3 Uncool But Effective Leadership Characteristics
O'Connor

3 Uncool But Effective Leadership Characteristics

Doesn't it seem like the more controversial you are in the world of entertainment or media the more popular you become? Unfortunately regardless of where you stand politically or personally this bad behavior has infiltrated the leaders around us. It's tempting to attack ad hominem, blame others and point at what we don't like about what we don't understand. We have stopped listening and learning from each other and our own mistakes.

Add to that the intense viewership and immediacy of speeches, tweets, posts, articles and our information and opinion first society takes a toll on our attention. It has infiltrated how we treat others at work and at home. Are we saturated with these negatives from our phones and the media? Yes. Is the messaging demanding beyond reasonable rationality? For sure.

How can voices of the leader in us and the leaders in our lives stand out without giving in to the bombardment, the culture and the shortness of breath that is taken? How can leaders stand out, be effective and lead without becoming a part of the ugly culture of the world today? Is it too late? It's not. It is time to be more loudly unpopular and uncool to undo this silly, dangerous trend.

We need to be and they need to be more of the simple Webster's definition of uncool.

un·cool /??n?ko?ol/

adjective INFORMAL

  1. not fashionable or impressive.
  2. "an uncool haircut"

In my coaching and career work I have met many diverse leaders from college age students to senior executives. Here are a few of today's uncool and unhip characteristics and tactics of leaders that should be considered when you choose your next leader. They don't even have a nice acronym to them - how uncool.

In short our best leaders ignore the noise and strive every day to become:

Clearly Compassionate Listeners. To underestimate the power of listening in a world of shouting loudness is dangerous. A quiet leader asks and actually listens when they know of a problem: How can I better hear you? Can you give me more context about this situation so I can help do the right thing? What are some of the things I may be missing that could help you now? How have the decisions we have made affected you and how can we better motivate you? Is there anything going on that I need to know about to help foster more fairness? Leaders who spend time "with the troops" and do not dictate from afar or from behind tweets, emails, memos and dictates fair better in the long-term but may be ignored for their quietness. So be it.

Reputation of Fairness Builders. When a leader decides that the general beliefs and opinions that other people have about you matter that is a start to the foundation. Now when quietly effective leaders want to generate short term results they know that pressuring people, demanding results and enacting dictates can create them. Here's what the best quiet leaders do. They are tempted and make the opposite decision. They motivate others. They suggest ways to get short term results but don't demand. They serve their people and often show care by participating in helping them get results. They know they may face criticism from above but put people first before profits and build long term relationships that engender loyalty and love.

Righteous Losers. For anyone who enjoys accomplishment, hates to lose in general and tries to win there is another hidden, leadership destroying temptation that the best leaders learn how to avoid. Setbacks happen all the time. Losing happens way more than winning even for the so-called greats in sports, business, religion and life. How you lose and how you handle losing sets you up to be endeared, followed and remembered more than winning. This is a hard one for any of us who somehow learned to take winning so seriously. My dad once said: "You don't learn anything from winning" after one of my post baseball game losses as a kid. It stuck. What did he mean? Just listen to any sports hero or business person. Their story is usually punctuated by a loss or series of setbacks that motivated them to become better and to become their best. Fast forward. Now more important than ever for leaders? What's most important here? Learn how to accept losses gracefully, help your team heal by teaching them graciousness, and use them as motivation to show compassion, care, concern and class.

How can leaders in our life, our businesses and our world stand out? Do they need to be loud, lead from the front with powerful rallying cries and out loud the outrageous world to win? I say no and I am sure that will be unpopular and really uncool. Good leaders care about this perception but do not sacrifice temporary wins for long-term reputation enhancing righteousness and reputation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

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In his 29th year of career strategy coaching, outplacement and best practices in career services, John M. O'Connor has written 50 Feature Articles and been cited in 150+ Expert Panel Quote publications for Forbes on career and workplace issues. He became the first private practice Reach Branding Certified Specialist in North Carolina and is the first Certified Federal Job Search Trainer (CFJST). With a unique fiction writing pedigree, he obtained a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Bowling Green State University. He has written multiple LinkedIn articles and contributed to career transition stories for Yahoo! Hotjobs, Monster.com, CNN-Money, The Ladders, AOL.com, and in many newspaper publications locally and nationally. 

His diversified experience includes serving as a college professor and as a United States Army officer. John is a keynote speaker and corporate trainer offering consultations, outplacement and talent issues, best workplace issues and human resource services.

Great article and insight! Thank you for sharing.

回复
Rod Brooks

Innovative Non-Profit Leader Develops and Drives Major Growth Strategies and Donor Impact

3 年

Very insightful, John! These are words every leader can strive to live by. Thank you.

Frank Segal

Working to build a clean energy future

3 年

Great piece, John M. O'Connor! This hits home, especially in today's world. Thanks for sharing!

Sherri McManus

Business & Executive Leadership Coach and Corporate Trainer. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Trainer. Top 15 coaches in Raleigh in 2023.

3 年

Great insight John M. O'Connor. Love how you broke down 3 ways on what today's leaders need to strive for. I lived through the "Reputation of Fairness Builders" when I was nurturing my team to focus on people before profit mentality. It is a slower process to see results, however the long term results outweigh the short term results.

Stan Phelps

Goldfish Growth Speaker | CSP?, VMP? & Global Speaking Fellow

3 年

Great points John. I love, "how you lose and how you handle losing sets you up to be endeared, followed, and remembered more than winning." We do take winning too seriously. My father used to joke that, "for some people winning wasn't just a matter of life and death, it was much more than that." We need more grace in our leaders.

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