Three Lessons from an Inspirational Leader

As I continue to grow professionally, one of the books recommended to me by a senior leader in the financial services industry was The Inspirational Leader by Gifford Thomas .? Thomas is one of the founders of Leadership First , which has over 6 million followers on LinkedIn.? I recommend this book to anyone currently leading a team or aspiring to be a leader in their career.? Here are some of the points from the book that resonated with me:

Characteristics of a genuine leader

• Seeks consensus and is empathic
• Respect differences and develop independent followers
• Unites through the internationalization of mission and values

I have been fortunate to have had many great leaders in my career.? When I reflect on how these leaders built and developed teams, I see that they demonstrated the characteristics of true leaders.? Reflecting on my time at GE Capital, I see several leaders, including Ken Blackburn, MBA , who showed genuine leadership skills.? Ken created a culture of listening to his employees. One example was a weekly stand-up where he wanted to learn about employees’ weekends and what they wanted to accomplish during the week.? I was fortunate to learn from him about leadership.

I have also worked with managers who could have been more positive leaders.? They were leaders because of their titles and didn’t create a culture that respected differences. They focused only on the manager’s rather than the team’s goals.

Great leaders genuinely care about those they work with, which is why people want to follow them.

During my time at 微软 , leaders would ask employees what they liked and didn’t like about their jobs.? This culture of open communication allowed employees to express their challenges and provided opportunities to solve problems. It also offered an opportunity for leaders to get to know their employees so that for future roles or projects, they would have the backgrounds of employees interested in these opportunities.

Being a leader is more than just wanting to lead.? Leaders have empathy for others and a keen ability to find the best in people—not the worst—by truly caring for others.

Empathetic leaders demonstrate the following when they are with their teams:

• Demonstrate listening skills
• Are fully present
• Inspire team members
• Lead by example

I used to have a manager who didn’t demonstrate these qualities, and she hurt me and her team.? I remember being in meetings with her to review reports and results, and she was constantly looking at her phone and not paying attention.? She would then complain about the results without guidance, even though multiple team members noticed that she hadn’t read the reports.? This created a negative culture for the team and me. As a result, employees started leaving the company.

Due to the positive and negative experiences in my career, the above three points resonate with me.? I am grateful for the lessons I learned to continue to grow and improve as a leader.