You probably have no idea who Captain Charlie Plumb is. But his story serves an extremely powerful lesson in leadership. Charlie grew up as a farm kid from Kansas and like many kids at the time he day-dreamed about airplanes but never thought he would have the opportunity to fly one. The United States Navy turned that around.
Of all the leaders that you know or know of, what are the traits that all successful leaders have in common? After conducting over 140 interviews with CEOs from leading organizations including Mastercard, Best Buy, Unilever, PwC, Oracle, Verizon, and many others -I uncovered nine essential mindsets and skills that separate successful leaders from their peers.
When most of us think of leading with vulnerability we think in terms of binary options, either you are, or you aren’t. But, after doing the research for this book I discovered that’s not correct. There are actually different types of vulnerable leaders…5 of them to be exact.
Not everyone expresses vulnerability in the same way nor does everyone find the same things to be vulnerable. We can be vulnerable during scary or big moments like receiving candid feedback from a trusted peer or when we need to let someone go because of performance issues. We can also be vulnerable every day with small moments such as praising someone on a team, asking for help, or even listening to someone.
What if I told you the way that you think about your career and long term success is all wrong? What if I told you that what you’ve been taught inside of your educational institutions and inside of your organizations is actually setting you up for career failure, not success?
Why do start-ups [and teams/businesses] fail? I’ve posed that question to many entrepreneurs after their start-up was shut down, and about half of them said, “The team was not right.”
In many organizations, there’s a lack of a clear, unified definition of leadership. This leads to different types of leaders being promoted, some admired and respected, others feared and disliked, even within the same company culture.
Super Situational adapts and blends with their environment and surroundings. They may meet with a member of their team and share that they are going through a tough time at work but then they may meet with a peer shortly after and talk about a big mistake they made on a client project.
The ability to manage your emotions and remain calm under pressure has a direct link to your performance. I’ve conducted research with more than a million people and found that 90% of top performers are skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress in order to remain calm and in control.
Free food, hot yoga on lunch breaks, unlimited vacation time…the list could go on, but organizational productivity and success will not follow. If perks are the only strategy used to better your business, is it really as sustainable of a strategy as it sounds? Will it help retain top talent for your business?
