Hutton's Huddle - Thoughts on Leadership

Article 3:? We all have the capacity to inspire & empower others.

For this Huddle, I’ll be referencing the perspective of Bill George in his 2007 HBR article, “Discovering your authentic leadership”, by Bill George, Peter Sims, Andrew N. McLean, and Diana Mayer.

While the article and book were written more than 15 years ago, Bill and team were onto a very critical observation of successful leadership. Bill reinforced that while we all have the capacity to inspire and empower others, we must first be willing to devote ourselves to our own personal growth and development as leaders. We must do the hard work to know ourselves, before we can be truly effective at empowering, lifting, serving, and leading others. It is a human-centered approach that starts with you.

As I progressed through my own career and self-awareness journey, I was faced with brutally honest feedback from friends, family, and work colleagues of high trust. It’s not necessarily an enjoyable process, but it is critical as one strives to develop into an effective, authentic leader. I was committed to continuous self-exploration and self-improvement while understanding that the process can be unpleasant and that I must demonstrate vulnerability and be comfortable with the uncomfortable. We need to stay open-minded as we discover our blind spots, as we come to understand that our strengths become our weaknesses when over-used, and as we start to see how we are perceived by others.

As a piece of my journey, I can now quickly identify if I am off-balance or if another leader is off-balance by a break in one of these two-character traits:

i)??????????????????? Temperance – calm and composed; ability to think clearly and respond reasonably in tense situations; stays grounded, avoids excesses.

ii)?????????????????? Integrity – holds oneself to a high moral standard and behaves consistently with ethical standards, even in difficult situations; seen by others as behaving in a way that is consistent with their personal values and beliefs and with the organization’s values and beliefs.

A leader’s temperament, particularly in difficult or tense moments, has long-lasting ripple effects on surrounding team members, at all levels of the organization. I see one’s temperament as the “pace setter” for establishing cultural behavioral norms for the office and work teams: whatever you say and do (your actions and behaviors), as the leader, makes it acceptable for everyone else to behave in the same manner. This is why being authentic and holding yourself to your own internal standards is so important.

Sometimes a leader stagnates because they have not yet achieved full awareness of their individual extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. As Bill George stated, “because authentic leaders need to sustain high levels of motivation and keep their lives in balance, it is critically important for them to understand what drives them.”

I am grateful I was challenged early in my career to dive deep to understand my intrinsic drivers and values because that pushed me to make various career decisions and moves over the past 2 decades. At one point, I was in a work situation that provided a “safe and comfortable” professional livelihood and where I was enjoying great business and professional success. I knew that my family would be well cared for had I stayed in that role. However, it was not satisfying or fulfilling, and I recognized that I was not meeting my full potential as a leader in the role. It was not meeting my intrinsic motivators and was, in fact, pushing me into an unhappy and frustrated state.

Instead, I chose to leave the comfortable, successful role and seek out a different path that was less comfortable. I sought to find roles and organizations that were more aligned to my individual extrinsic and intrinsic motivations.

Finding one’s authentic leadership requires a commitment to continually inspecting and developing yourself. It is critical to find your own path and your own authentic leadership style and voice. I would advise to not try to emulate anyone else as others will see right through it and question your authenticity.

I will conclude this huddle with another key observation of Bill George: “superior results over a sustained period of time are the ultimate mark of an authentic leader.” ?Yet, sustained superior results can only be obtained by having empowered and effective team members and leaders.

Effective, authentic leaders not only inspire those around them, they empower their team to step up and lead too. This is my main daily focus at Biodesix, Inc. I challenge all team members and leaders to consider how they may direct their efforts and talents to become the optimal leader and performer that they can become. I ask them to consider honing their leadership skills, from finding their ways to create an inspired culture, to being decisive and purposeful, to expanding their self-awareness (EQ), to developing strategic vision and trustworthiness.

More to come on that in future Huddles.