Weekend Reads - May 12, 2023

Why spend your time scouring the internet for articles and insights on leadership when we have done that for you?

The?Elite Leadership Insights?newsletter publishes Weekend Reads each Friday with resources from some of the top academic and business leadership minds. It is a resource for you to utilize as you continue your leadership journey and packaged so you can casually read them over the weekend. Continuous learning is a critical part of leadership improvement. In each Weekend Reads you will find links to articles, videos, podcasts and other resources, as well as some recommended leadership books.

We curate resources from?Harvard Business Review,?McKinsey & Company,?PwC,?Forbes,?Inc. Magazine,?Kellogg Insight,?Knowledge at Wharton,?MIT Sloan Management Review,?Chief Executive Group?and many others.

Here are this week's Weekend Reads. Feel free to share this with your colleagues. Enjoy!

Into all Problem-Solving, a Little Dissent Must Fall, 麦肯锡 , February 15, 2023. In today’s interconnected business environment, companies won’t be able to solve problems effectively without encouraging “contributory dissent”—a healthy approach to gathering diverse perspectives that should be taught to team members, modeled by leaders, and supported by culture.

How to Become a Board Member Early in Your Career, Harvard Business Review , April 28, 2023. Joining a board as a young professional can be a career-shaping opportunity. It can help you hone your leadership skills, learn how to influence people, and forge strong connections. You can also create lasting impact through the insights, ideas, and strategies you share while in this role. But what does it really mean to serve on a board of directors, and how can you land one of these coveted seats?

New Research Reveals the 30 Critiques Holding Women Back From Leadership That Most Men Will Never Hear, Fast Company , May 2, 2023. Three female PhDs say their research demonstrates that practically any characteristic can be proclaimed problematic to question a woman’s competence and suitability for leadership. Virtually any characteristic can be leveraged against a woman in a discriminatory fashion. Such criticisms often relate to facets of women’s identity in an overt or subtle way, such as race, age, parental status, attractiveness, and physical ability. Read more about this study to learn how the surface-level critiques functions as a “red herring,” distracting from the inherent gender bias driving the encounter.?

How Women Leaders Benefit From Using Humour, INSEAD Knowledge , May 3, 2023. New research suggests that being funny helps leaders gain influence, and that women benefit more than men from using humour in public speaking. “A sense of humour is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done,” said Dwight D. Eisenhower. The ability to make light of a situation and make people laugh, as the former US President and statesman noted, is undoubtably a handy skill for managers. But there is a specific group of leaders for whom humour could be even more potent: women.

?American CEOs are ‘Failing’ Their Workers Right Now, says Harvard Expert: ‘We’re in a Crisis of Trust’, CNBC , May 9, 2023. Bosses and employees in America don’t seem to be getting along particularly well these days. From CEOs delivering attention-grabbing rants in all-staff meetings to the Hollywood writers’ strike, it’s easy to feel like 2023 is the year of breakdowns in communication between leaders and their colleagues. "Leaders of all kinds are failing some of the basic expectations that people have for how they should be treated," according to Sandra Sucher from the Harvard Business School.

A 5-Step Leadership Lesson for Less Suffering and More Happiness, Inc. Magazine , May 10, 2023. Being mean to yourself manifests on the inside as being hyper-critical, blocking joy, and feeling that you're never enough. On the outside it shows up as being too soft and never taking a firm stand; or the opposite, being arrogant and heartless. Either way, being mean to yourself causes suffering and makes you a less effective leader. It denies your full power.?

A Blessing And A Curse: How Can Leaders Manage Their Egos?, Forbes , May 11, 2023. The term ego is used to refer to a person’s sense of ‘self’. It encompasses their thoughts and feelings, including their self-esteem and sense of self-importance. We all have an ego. Effective ego management is essential to being a good leader. A healthy ego is a good thing because it boosts our self-confidence, pushing us to confront or overcome our fears. People want to follow leaders who have a healthy ego. Leaders with oversized egos can easily alienate the people in their teams and struggle to get the best out of them. Here is what leaders should know about managing their own ego.

{The?Elite Leadership Academy, the publisher of the Elite Leadership Insights Newsletter, is a privately funded leadership training and advisory organization dedicated to the improvement of leadership in all industries and organization levels using a personalized, process-based approach that is adaptable to almost any leadership encounter while producing measurable results.}