Today we dispatched the July edition of our Leadership That Works Newsletter, a curated digest of the most enthralling leadership links to read right now, sent at the end of each month. In this month’s edition: learn to tell your story, create a caring culture, build a team of champions, and more. As always, we’re sharing the articles from our newsletter here in case you’re not subscribed to our mailing list. If you like what you see, you can sign up to receive our newsletter here.
Dare to Care
“While cut-throat cultures may succeed in the short term, caring creates long-term success” writes EI pioneer, Daniel Goleman, in this insightful Korn Ferry post. Many leaders believe toughness alone is the key to cultivating high performance, but it’s simply not true says Goleman. In fact, creating a caring culture through positive practices like, “empathic support, a respectful environment, and meaningful work” have been shown to create desired results both in productivity and organizational outcomes.
**For more on creating a positive culture that delivers high performance, explore our posts on influencing people with honor, giving thanks with your leadership, and valuing people.
The 4 Kinds of Leadership ‘Maker‘
“In the industrial age, leaders provided guidance for workers on what to do” writes Eric J. McNulty in this fascinating Strategy+Business piece on the leadership maker movement. Now, “the challenge is for leaders to create the conditions for self-organizing teams, decentralized decision making, and independent problem solving.” To do this effectively, leaders must become ‘makers’ in four distinct domains — Sense-maker, Meaning-maker, Place-maker, and Space-maker. Explore these four domains fully here.
How Do You Build a Team of Champions?
If you’re a sports fan, you may recall that Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach, Doug Pederson, coached his team to Superbowl victory earlier this year despite their being pinned as ‘underdogs’ and overcoming a string of challenges. How’d he do it? Pederson shares his winning leadership tips with Forbes in this interesting post. Pederson says, “I demand excellence, so often, I’ll take the coach hat off and put the dad hat on to let them know that I care about them. They’re going to give me everything they’ve got because they know I care.” This is notably aligned with our belief at ConantLeadership that they key to success is being tough-minded on standards and tender-hearted with people. Read all his tips here. (Full disclosure: we’re headquartered in Philly so we have to add — Go Birds!)
**For more on being both tough and tender, check out our post on the importance of the word ‘AND’ here.
The Path to Gender Parity
Currently, women make up less than 20% of corporate board members. “Without greater female representation on their boards, companies are losing out on not only an important segment of talent, but on a critical marketplace perspective.” writes Victoria Medvec in this KelloggInsight post. How do we pave the path to gender parity in the boardroom? Medvec outlines four crucial actions for both women and companies to proactively take.
Just Write That ‘Thank You’ Note Already
A new study covered in this interesting New York Times article reveals that ‘thank-you’ notes have a far more positive effect than most people imagine. Researchers found that receiving an authentic expression of gratitude could even evoke an “ecstatic” feeling. So why don’t more people send them? People misjudge how much their writing will be scrutinized, that the recipient will feel awkward, or fear it really won’t be that appreciated. But studies show they are a bigger deal than you think, and that recipients don’t even care about how the note is phrased, they really only notice the level of “warmth.” So, get to writing those notes. They’re much more meaningful than you suspect.
**Read about our Founder, Doug Conant’s practice of sending handwritten thank-you notes here.
What’s Your Story?
“Great leaders are storytellers.” writes Chip Bell in this instructive post. He explains, “stories of promise instill conviction and bolster confidence. They can inspire, instruct, and invite.” Clearly, effective storytelling can be a powerful leadership communication tool. But some leaders are a bit uncomfortable with the form; it doesn’t come naturally to everyone. To help you become a better storyteller in your leadership, regardless of your current level of comfort, Bell provides an actionable three-part structure for framing your message. Explore his framework here.
Enjoyed these links? Check out our recent link roundups from April, May, and June. Explore our suite of leadership resources here. Or, join our mailing list here.
Ready to take your leadership to the next level? For an immersive and transformational leadership experience, apply to attend one of our upcoming leadership Boot Camps, taught personally by our Founder, Doug Conant, the only former Fortune 500 CEO who is a NYT bestselling author, a Top 50 Leadership Innovator, a Top 100 Leadership Speaker, and a Top 100 Most Influential Author in the World.
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