INsight/ Learning from Leaders

Manila, 27 July 2024 — Three leadership lessons to take forward into action. 

Story

It happened this week. Three lessons inspired my learning as a student of leadership. First, two executive leaders completed the 3-month Leader in Transition program with powerful results, ready to deploy their new leadership signatures in their workplaces. They had committed to complete the challenge of their transition and they did so.

Second, I felt privileged and enriched to interview five leaders about their daily practice of leadership in life and work. Their personal stories and tips will feature in the new, globally-focused Pathway Program of the International Water Centre at Griffith University. Their commitment to show up daily as leaders shone through in each interview.

Third, I enjoyed learning how new technologies are bringing people together to collaborate and embrace positive societal changes, for example in Taiwan and Finland. You can read about these innovations in Plurality: The Future of Collaborative Technology and Democracy. This offers new opportunities for communities of leaders who embrace collaboration.

Challenge

Three lessons resonated with me from these stories. First, showing up as leaders is key to leading positive change, as articulated earlier by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a professor at Harvard University in her TED talk on the Six Keys to Leading Positive Change. Showing up is where it starts, and then the other five keys follow. To keep showing up signals the commitment, that sets leaders apart.

Second, embracing the possibility of positive change offers us unprecedented opportunities to grow as leaders, individually and together in teams, organizations, and communities. That’s where the insights in the Plurality book shine for us. In our world today, embracing a positive narrative is not automatic—it is a choice that leaders make. Where others get stuck in crises, they see opportunities for positive innovations.

Third, technologies today, including AI, can make collaboration for good easier than before. That’s an exciting horizon just in front of us. At TransformationFirst.Asia, we are committed to advancing and accelerating collaborative leadership development, including in our Grow3Leaders community of practice that is powered by Mighty Networks. Working with leaders from many countries, we explore how collaboration can accelerate results.  

Question

What will it take to move these lessons and challenges forward into action? That’s my personal question to you this week. 

The three lessons will come together when we commit to taking action as leaders. That always starts by transforming ourselves first, to grow our mindset, to expand our leader competencies, and to practice our leader behaviors with others.

Your return on investment from growing your leadership will, over everything else, come from your commitment to keep showing up in sustained practice. That’s where our leadership programs will help you. Book your Free Strategy Call now.