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ESSENTIALS FOR LEADERS AND THOSE THEY LEAD
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The path to becoming a successful leader is not straight and narrow. While many leaders make it to the top by gaining expertise in one area of a business, the best-performing CEOs may need to show mastery across all parts of their organization. But that’s just part of the equation. The best leaders cultivate qualities such as empathy, self-awareness, integrity, and humility that complement their business savvy. This week, we look at the importance of human-centered leadership and the need for CEOs to both look inward and connect with their teams to create stronger organizations.
AN IDEA
Many leaders struggle to connect their aspirations with the performance of their organizations. That’s because most executives don’t spend enough time focusing on developing their so-called soft skills, observe McKinsey senior partners Dana Maor, Hans-Werner Kaas, Kurt Strovink, and Ramesh Srinivasan in their new book, The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead from the Inside Out. In many cases, executives don’t know how to combine their traditional business talents with being reflective, humble, and vulnerable. But when they figure it out, they are better able to engage and inspire their colleagues and teams. As CEOs wrestle with digital transformation, disrupted global supply chains, and other complex issues, becoming a more human-centered, authentic leader can help them align with the right people to drive their business forward. “No one person, no matter how brilliant or capable, has the experience, knowledge, or temperament to tackle all these challenges alone,” the authors say.
A BIG NUMBER
5
That’s the number of mindset shifts that can help executives change the way they work and become better leaders at a time when employees really need them. Among these mindset shifts is changing how they see themselves at work. Executives must have the courage to embrace their humanity, including their quirks, to become more genuine leaders who bond with their teams and inspire stronger performance. “The intent is to move beyond task-driven and transactional relationships by taking the time to get to know one another and connect at a human level, sharing values, beliefs, hopes, and fears and enabling all to reveal the greatness that lies within,” say McKinsey senior partners Aaron De Smet and Arne Gast and their coauthors.
A QUOTE
That’s McKinsey senior partner Homayoun Hatami in an episode of The McKinsey Podcast on CEO priorities for 2024. In discussing how CEOs should focus their efforts to enable their organizations to thrive, Hatami suggests that self-care plays a critical role in managing the myriad demands of leadership. Developing effective microhabits can help leaders maintain their energy to inspire their teams. “These could be things like holding the line on travel, capping the length of meetings, not checking email after 8:00 p.m., picking up the phone and talking to someone instead of emailing,” notes Hatami. “It could also be going for a walk instead of doing a one-on-one.”
A SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW
New CEOs must quickly connect with their teams in authentic ways. In an Inside the Strategy Room podcast interview on how CEOs can get off to a strong start in the role, McKinsey senior partners Carolyn Dewar and Kurt Strovink stress the importance of sharing meaningful moments with team members. “People want to see whether you are approachable and seem interested in them,” Strovink says. Adds Dewar, “You need to genuinely listen and learn, because the organization will sense if you are asking questions but not interested in the answers.” Finding the right balance between listening and taking strong positions is crucial for CEOs early in their tenure. “Sometimes leaders come in with too much of an assertive position without fully understanding the context,” Strovink says. “Alternately, they may shy away entirely from any early point of view. Either extreme can be a failure mode.”
STRONG, NOT SQUISHY
Investing in empathic behavior can generate higher productivity, a stronger workplace culture, and better organizational health. Stanford University research psychologist Jamil Zaki says, “When I train leaders in empathy, one of the first hurdles I need to get over is this stereotype that empathy is too soft and squishy for the work environment. It’s easy to debunk that. There are decades of evidence showing that empathy is a workplace superpower.” To create a positive and supportive workplace, CEOs can employ an affiliative leadership style that helps employees feel a sense of belonging, fosters open exchanges of ideas, and inspires people to work together to achieve common goals.
Lead authentically.
— Edited by Eric Quiñones, senior editor, New York
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