Green shoots are showing, but there’s a way to go yet…
Welcome to the Leader’s Kitbag, June 2020.
Hello everyone,
How are you all doing? There’s some challenges to be had out there for sure. I hope you are navigating them well, and taking time and calling on your support network as you do.
I thought especially now that I’d open this month’s Kitbag with this question, as doing a simple wellbeing check-in has become the most positively responded to initiative we have launched at 4iLeadership since the beginning of the CoVid19 crisis. And since I consider you all here a community, I thought I’d extend the same approach.
Also, leaping ahead into content mode, but continuing the theme, how about I ask you another question. When did you last take a Mental Health Day? I for one, couldn’t say that I have. But I am tomorrow. Leading at the best of times can be fraught as much as it can be energising, and I have to put my hand up and say the recent weeks have taken a toll. This article (5mins READ) explains the purpose, benefits and need to support this intiatiive of Mental Health Days.
That having been said, on with the program!
We are seeing some green shoots of activity in our markets, but there certainly is a way to go before the path forward becomes clear.
As always, we’ve aimed to curate a range of content for you hear across the range of formats, learning modes and topical interest groups. We hope you enjoy and take insights and transformative impetus from many of the suggestions here. Within these recommendations we’ve aimed to provide both immediately applicable action points, and long-term future projections targeting the themes that will impact on our leadership in the years ahead.
If you enjoy the content we curate each month, and you’d like to keep up with what we are creating in between each Kitbag, there are many ways you can do so. You can WATCH (2-4mins) my daily YouTube leadership broadcasts, Time with Tim, or WATCH (10-25mins) the conversations I have with Dr Tom Alan-Livenois, TimTomTalks, or LISTEN to the podcast series Better World Leaders and our new Medium publication – Lead Forward. Click on any of these to review the content and follow the channel, we look forward to your feedback and comments across any of these platforms. We’d also welcome you following us on our LinkedIn company page, facebook or Instagram.
We look forward to seeing you in the next edition of Leader’s Kitbag,
Until then stay safe, be well, lead well and build a better world,
Tim and all of us at 4i.
Imagine a better world built by better leadership (including yours).
This content is visionary, strategic or futuristic in nature, looking at the road ahead for leadership.
A compelling and poignant look at leadership in the very proximate future by two authors from Oxford Saïd Business school, shared here in this 30 min READ, laying out the shift as they see it from EGO to ECO driven leadership. Eco in this sense not environmental, but systematic, leveraging collective intelligence, hyper-connectivity and many other capabilities which we frequently reference will set leaders apart, or leave them behind in the decade ahead. Well worth the time to read and reflect on.
A great short read (5mins) in HBR reflecting a practice I often use when coaching, and to help leaders engage their imagination to project forward and navigate beyond current challenges by working back from a distance envisioned future position.
We’ve seen plenty of speculations about what may follow post-CoVid19 from a societal, workplace and organisational level. How about an economic model? This episode of Hidden Brain (LISTEN 41minutes)puts forward an equally interesting an imaginative notion, that we have an opportunity to re-frame our balance or incentives and punishments and create a ‘moral economy’.
Ignite your potential to lead to your utmost ability.
This content is intended to be pragmatic, actionable and applicable to your leadership today.
There are so many highlights, and so many learning opportunities, from the first half of Season 1 of Better World Leaders that I struggled to condense them into a suitable length for the review episode. It was an even harder task to do a ‘social media’ version under 10 minutes. But both tasks were accomplished, so you can chose either! Even in the less than 10 minutes you can elect for in the shorter form, I would wager you will learn something that you can immediately apply to your leadership from one of the four ‘Better World Leaders’ I’ve had the honour of conversing with in the broadcast episodes so far. LISTEN or WATCH in full here Episode 5 (40 mins) or WATCH the extracts in less than 8 mins here.
An excellent HBR article (7min read) from 2015 which holds great relevance today on emotional connection being a major driver for successful teams.
Another great READ from HBR on agility (10mins), a much heralded leadership that’s been needed more than ever in these last few months. However, disruption is not done with us, in fact if there’s anything we can be certain of, it’s that what lies ahead as leaders is in almost every way, is less certain that what’s come so far. Agility is a skill that’s going to need to be built and refined as we look to the decade ahead.
Immerse yourself in our deep exploration of a focal leadership topic.
Month by month, we at 4i are examine key areas that enhance leadership’s impact and contribution.
Focus on getting the core right and not chasing after the ‘quick-fix’ or ‘white-knight’ solution. That’s essentially the message from this great interview with Jim Collins on the The Knowledge Project podcast (LISTEN 2hrs 23mins)
Know thyself. A useful governing paradigm at anytime for sure, but especially key now when leading through what continue to be tumultuous times. I’ve been using mediation to give me immersive, introspective pauses for the last 6 years, and having used most of the app-based meditation guides, Headspace continues to come out as my preferred option. They have a great new range of free exercises (1-10mins click here) targeting stress, anxiety and uncertainty, as well as a guide especially for employers, click here.
Culture is the key to workplace performance, and the organisational productivity and profitability that comes with it. We are ardent students of what drives great cultures. Earlier in this year, we commissioned an in-depth study of our customers. The cultural challenges in particular we stark and confronting. With the transition of cultures and shifting priorities collectively in society, we propose that in many ways the post-Co-Vid era may present new opportunities to improve workplace cultures. Click here for the article by the researcher who led the project, Susie Overell (11min READ).
Inspire yourself or others who you may share this with.
Examples of great leadership, in particular what I call ‘Better World Leadership’ from the world at large.
This is a great example to me of inspiring leadership, by Better World Leader’s Episode 2 guest Simon Glendenning. Simon’s latest endeavour is a not-for-profit, Raised Hand, which brings out-of-work Executives who are happy to donate their skills and businesses of all sizes together for mutual benefit. You can WATCH Simon discuss the concept here (2mins) and explore the platform on behalf of your organisation here , or yourself if you have the inclination to donate your time and skills – raisedhand.me
An insightful article on Bloomberg discussing the Unilever CEO’s views on how the CoVid crisis presents an even stronger case than had been previously recognised for businesses big and small to put purpose first, being led of course by purposeful leaders (8min READ).
