Authentic & Empowering Leadership

I meet so many people every week, both virtually on LinkedIn and also in person.

Few months ago I met Kashan A. , he joined my three weeks LinkedIn training, and we became friends!

I follow his to enhance my knowledge on the topic of Leadership.

This week, I thought to interview him for my newsletter. I suggest you follow Kashan, and learn from him.

Here is what we discussed about a great Leadership program he runs.

Authentic & Empowering Leadership Program

Q1: Tell my followers a little about the program, what inspired you to develop this?

I have been providing custom-tailored leadership training workshops in corporate settings for a while and had a chance to witness various leadership challenges faced by management team members, especially new leaders. This led me to develop a program that was based on practical application of leadership principles and addressed such challenges.

Q2: You mentioned about the challenges; can you elaborate on what these challenges are?

First of all, we need to look at the process behind how someone gets into a leadership position. 9 out of 10 times, an individual who has accumulated enough functional experience gets promoted to a managerial position. Now, most of the inventory of their skills is technical in nature rather than leadership-focused. Such a manager, when put in charge of overseeing other people’s work, would tend to primarily focus on process rather than people. Well, leadership works the other way round, and unless you have been trained to hone your leadership skills and delegate the technical piece to the team, you will find it difficult and even unfulfilling to wear a leader’s hat.

Secondly, reading leadership theory is not enough; you need to embrace it, do a thorough introspection, face your weaknesses and fears, be very open to feedback, be willing to learn and adapt, do an honest self-evaluation, and based on the lessons you have learned along this process make changes in the way you operate. This is what it takes to be a good leader, and this is the approach that I have based my program on. Trust me, I have seen people with very fancy position titles and university degrees in leadership, who do not even have a modicum of what one could call a leadership characteristic. This is precisely the type of manager I teach my learners not to be.

Thirdly, a lot of literature on leadership tells you about your external interactions. Well, learning that component is certainly important, but it is just half the battle. You also need to look inside yourself and focus on your own wellbeing if you want to be an effective leader.

Q3: Tell me, what is the reasoning behind this name ‘Authentic and Empowering Leadership’?

There are certain traits you may or may not need to have as a leader. For example, you may not necessarily need to be an innovative or creative leader if your work involves strict adherence to given standards or processes. Or, you may not have to be a transformative leader unless you are leading your organization or your team through a major change. But authenticity and empowerment are the absolute non-negotiable traits of a leader, hence this name.

(Follow this program here)

Q4: What is the typical audience profile for this program?

So far, the attendees of the program have been from around 5 countries, holding various positions such as functional managers, general managers, executive directors, founders, etc., but the primary target audience of this program are the emerging leaders.

Thank you Kashan for your time.

I am totally fascinated, I know that leadership connects our head to our heart!