Lead Yourself Before You Lead Others
Aki Alhroth from Duunitori (Finnish Recruitment & HR Media) interviewed me for his podcast series on Modern Leadership. Here few words about the topic.
I am currently going through my 10 month Co-Active Leadership Program in Barcelona. It is part of my continuing coaching training (and my future dream of working for CTI), and it is confirming my belief how leadership should be.
I believe traditional top down leadership is bygone. I get an allergic reaction when I think that only the top leader have decisive power in organizations. I have had the privilege to work in companies where everyone gets to participate and use their capabilities, and I have seen the impact on the employee wellbeing and return on investment. And, of course, I have witnessed the opposite, which does not leave a healthy footprint nor on the business or the people. This is why I am so happy to notice that there is all the time more and more research and reasoning for why it is good to share responsibility and power in organizations and operate from shared values and meaning.
This is a huge challenge for us as leaders and a lot of work needs to be done to break our cultural beliefs and barriers on leadership. And, here the Leader Within comes to play. As a leader of your life, you need to know yourself to be able to connect, communicate and work with other people. You need to know what is drives you. Why do you do the things you do? What makes you exited? What are your key values? What do they mean to you? What are the stories behind your values? All these answers go deep down and tell so much about us. And, when we share these with others, there is an immediate impact on creating trust and intimate relationships. This is how we need lead, through connection within. That is and will be the strength of a future leader.
Be the Leader of You Life,
Marika
Links to the podcast (in Finnish):