A Performer's Reflections on the TED Talk - "The Tipping Point I got wrong"

I just saw this video today, and was struck by the candidness of the speaker Malcolm Gladwell.  He talks about what he got wrong in his book, The Tipping Point. 

Here are some of my reflections (in no order of importance) on this video:

• "This is what happened" - The way the world works is not as certain as it is in one's mind.
• An outstanding and thought-provoking line - "This is what I believe happened now".
• The ability to admit to yourself that you are or were wrong is critical for your growth.
• The ability to admit that you are are or were wrong to a public audience where you are being recorded for the world to see, is priceless.
• The willingness to be held accountable for errors in your work, make you an outstanding colleague or leader.
• While it's easier to say than do completely, we should do our best 
• What would the world be like if all influencers, particularly those in positions of power, would willingly admit their errors and work towards rectifying them? Wishful thinking, I know.
• Journalists and writers need to be more accountable for the content they put out.
• What would make a person (at any level) more accountable?
• As a coach, how can we encourage such authenticity in our clients?

What thoughts come up for you as you watched the video? What would you like to add to this list.

I'd love to have your points of view.

If you as a leader or influencer, have been sparring with some of these thoughts and questions for a while, and want to have a Strengths-coach as your sounding board, click this link to set up a pro-bono 30 minute Zoom call at a convenient time.  

If the time slots don't work for you, please write to me personally on ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com and we will decide on a mutually convenient time slot.

Should there be limits to being authentic?

How much honesty is enough / needed? = how much authenticity is required for different relationships?

If we are told that being authentic is essential to building trust with others, then how much do we reveal of ourselves while being authentic in our relationships with them.

Here's an interesting Ted Talk on authenticity and leadership from psychopaths.

While the similarities to leadership are intriguing, the speaker raises critical points about how much authenticity is required for us in our relationships.  

A Leader worth Admiring

Who do you consider to be a leader worth admiring? By admire I mean that you are so impressed by them (vision, accomplishments, style, etc) that you celebrate them, become their fan and would like to adopt some of their behaviours into your life.  

So... Gandhi? Hitler? Churchill? Your neighbourhood businessman? A preacher / priest? A film actor? A family member? A friend?  Well, that's your choice.

Now, consider this Ted Talk by Martin Gutmann (the trigger for this short article) that tries to understand this by asking if, by actually celebrating the wrong leaders, we are thereby creating an aspiration to become what might actually be an ineffective leader? If so, what could be the repercussions (on self / team / organization / society) when we celebrate the only shiny (media / social media) side of leadership?

There's a lot of food for thought in this video.  For me, one of the most provoking ideas was about what are the measures by which we tend to judge leaders.  Or rather, which measures are most appropriate to evaluate leaders?  

This further reminded me of discussions I have had during my corporate days while hiring candidates at any level or promoting employees. Practically everyone at the discussion had a different criterion preference when evaluating the person, and it would frequently take us time to understand the other person's perspective when we didn't understand and disagreed with the evaluation.

Things moved forward only when we shared our perspective on the factors we looked at when evaluating the candidate.

And the two final thoughts that struck me from this video:

• Is there a leader authentic enough to be worth admiring, particularly when we look at the current behaviours of some of the world's politicians and business leaders?
• How do I leverage my strengths to become a leader authentic enough to be admired?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Practical Guide to Develop Ethical Leadership

Ethics and leadership are regularly discussed together, especially over the past decade or so.  Corporate scams that have led to C-suite leaders facing jail time are in the news often.  

One often wonders what if any ethics were considered and why ethics were not followed by those leaders.

Here's a superb and practical article on how to develop #ethicalleadership.

I love the questions for self-inquiry provided in it. 

From the article: "It’s important to remember that whatever we think, say or do has consequences on ourselves and others – however small our actions are."

Read the article here.

Change the Way You Listen: Why Leaders Should Stop Hearing and Start Listening

A really practical article that can help you improve your #listeningskills , even if you aren't designated as a #leader 

From this interesting article - "Most speakers average 150-175 words per minute while most listeners can consume 400-500 words per minute. Distracted leaders allow their excess brain capacity to dialogue internally about the conversation and miss meaning by relying only on the words spoken (which account for only seven percent of #communication)."

Click here to read the entire article.

#leadershipskills #managerialskills #interpersonalcommunication #interpersonalskills #relationshipmanagement #strengthsdecoder 

Leadership Authenticity Starts With Knowing Yourself

Here's a must read article if you want to develop yourself as an "Authentic Leader".

From the article - "Authentic leaders are always investing in strengths -- their own strengths as well as those of their followers." 

When you think about it, you realize that trying to fix weaknesses wastes time, causes unhappiness, dissatisfaction and disengagement, and building on strengths can accelerate growth while having a positive energy experience.

Read the rest of the article here