Live2Lead: A Leader's Journey

Last Friday Edelman's South Region HR and Talent team took a handful of hours to invest in our professional and personal development and attended John C. Maxwell’s Live2Lead conference. Speakers included Chris Hogan, Angela Ahrendts, Rachel Hollis, Marcus Buckingham, and Maxwell himself. I will share 1-2 takeaways from each leader below; however, the whole day was an inspirational, heart-opening, and refreshing reminder that as leaders we have a major and awesome responsibility to love others. Love can be expressed in many forms, and it starts with really connecting with and understanding each person, recognizing everyone wants to be led in a unique way. Love can be giving opportunities to grow, focusing on and elevating someone’s strengths (vs. their opportunity areas), intentionally noticing them, or the random act of kindness. If more leaders could view their role through this lens, I can imagine a world of work that is more compassionate and enjoyable for everyone.

Key Takeaways from 2019’s Live2Lead

Chris Hogan encouraged us to think of our actions as having a ripple effect. Our words carry weight, so we need to be mindful of the words we choose. Show up for your team and connect by asking three basic questions: 1) “How are you?” And really listen to the answer. 2) “What are you working on?” and 3) “How can I help?” To have a positive ripple effect, we do not need to boil the ocean, we can start small with just a simple act of expressing gratitude. How To Apply This Takeaway: I have recommended Friday “thank you” emails to leaders for years. Take 5 minutes out of your Friday to send 1 or 2 thank you emails to people or teams who helped you accomplish your goals this week. You will likely make someone’s day (and what better day to do this than a Friday!), not to mention put a smile on your face.

Angela Ahrendts shared with us part of her leadership philosophy that was shaped by advice from her father: happiness comes from giving 60% and taking 40%. In other words, what are you doing for others? How To Apply This Takeaway: We can all use some more intentionality when it comes to developing and recognizing our team. Consider each of your direct reports and try to recall the last opportunity you gave them to develop themselves and the last time you recognized their work. If it’s been awhile, it’s time to take action! If it is too hard to recall or you don’t know where to start, a career development conversation may be in order.

Rachel Hollis reminded us to be intentional about acknowledging the good we see in others. We can boost confidence in others by focusing on the good and not harping on the areas where they need to improve. She reminded us what it means to be a warrior – expecting to get your butt kicked, seeing failure as a lesson for where to grow, and being mentally tough enough to get up after the hardships. Lastly, she talked about taking care of yourself before you try to help others. How To Apply This Takeaway: I have a journaling practice of documenting things I’m grateful for, as many of us do in the age of mindfulness. What if we also record one thing that we think we are failing at? Stay with me here… And then we FLIP IT ON ITS HEAD by journaling what we think this so-called “failure” is doing FOR our lives. What is it teaching us? How is it going to make us better?

Marcus Buckingham has a very open conversation with the audience about the recent events in his life that he had not discussed until recently. Aside from that, the biggest takeaway for me was the notion that our culture often studies the opposite of excellence to understand excellence. We study illness to understand health. This one hit close to home: we study exit trends to understand our talent instead of those who stay and excel. As a culture, we are more afraid of our weaknesses than we celebrate our strengths. How To Apply This Takeaway: Celebrate our strengths by creating “spaces” as Buckingham called it that allow people to become the best versions of themselves. When we see someone thriving in an area that they were not expressly hired for but we have a need in that area, give them the space and opportunity to grow there. Again, it’s about celebrating strengths so we can see the full potential in people.

I’ve always subscribed to a more balanced view between strengths and opportunities; however, after this time at Live2Lead, I am excited to try an intentional focus on strengths to see what it yields. This applies to how I view myself as well! We can often be so hard on ourselves – focusing on the one typo in a beautifully-crafted communication, for example; however, now more than ever we can lead with compassion to positively impact lives, starting with our own.