I used to say yes to every request, both personal and professional. If someone wanted to meet for dinner, pick my brain, or work together on a project, I always said yes.
But over time, I realized I was exhausted and depleted. I could never meet my goals for myself and my business because I spent all my time saying yes to everyone else instead of saying yes to myself.
This year has brought on a lot of challenges for leaders in every industry.
Some leaders have struggled and even failed. Others have really embraced change in order to help their people get through these tough times.
One CEO that has really used the current challenges to make her organization even better is Carrie Birkhofer, President and CEO of Bay Federal Credit Union. Even before the pandemic she knew the importance of putting people first.
During the course of his career he flew 74 successful combat missions over North Vietnam.
Charlie was 5 days away from the end of his tour when he took off on his 75th mission…it didn’t go as planned.
The idea of servant leadership is a far cry from the command and control style of leadership that was commonplace just a few decades ago. To succeed in the future of work, modern leaders must be humble and willing to serve their employees and company to get the best results.
Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to work with and speak with a hundreds of CEOs at companies around the world. I love to ask them about their habits and how they approach business and life in general.
For the first few years of my career I was terrible at creating boundaries. I said yes to everything and everyone until I finally got burned out. One day I realized that I wasn’t actually doing anything I needed or wanted to do, instead I was doing what other people wanted me to do!
A lot has been said about Satya Nadella’s turnaround of Microsoft, transforming it from a company many people viewed as outdated to one of the most valuable companies in the world with a strong culture. It could be the employee perks, new technology, or new customers, but what it really comes down to is this: Satya puts his people first. As I spoke with top CEOs from around the world for my new book, The Future Leader, Satya Nadella’s name constantly came up as a leader these CEOs admire. And for good reason: Satya is humble and people-focused and has a staggering 98% approval rating. By putting people first, he led an amazing turnaround at Microsoft and continues to guide it towards the future.
Being a leader is hard…really hard.
As a leader one of your main responsibilities and privileges is to serve, hence the concept of the “servant leader.”
You need to serve your team, your customers, your partners, and your leaders (if you have them).
BUT… there is one group that leaders oftentimes forget to serve, and it is perhaps the most important one.
As a leader you also have to serve YOURSELF! Yes, you have to serve yourself.
As the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos’ net worth is larger than some countries’ GDPs—combined.
But what does the Amazon founder and CEO view as the top sign of intelligence? It’s not money or prestige—it’s the ability to admit when you are wrong.
Emotional intelligence is the foundation of Bezos’ strong leadership and one of the reasons he and his company are so successful. He leads in a way that recognizes and celebrates the softer sides of business and puts him in charge of his emotions. Emotional intelligence or as I like to call it in my book, the skill of Yoda, is one of the most important skills that a leaders can possess.
Jim Heppelmann is the CEO of PTC, a technology software company with 6,500 employees in 30 countries. Jim was named one of “7 IoT leaders to Watch in 2017” by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, he was recognized as “IoT CEO of the Year” by PostScapes, “Technology CEO of the Year” by the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, and he received the CAD Society Leadership Award for his work with the Internet of Things.