6 minute read
ELEGANT LEADERSHIP
from The Rebirth
After more than a decade dedicated to leadership development in 13 countries, helping hundreds of Executives from different multinational organizations and their teams to develop new mental models and practices, I experienced my most difficult conversation when my four-year-old son asked me, "Daddy, What is that thing you call Leadership that you do in your work? ”. I said: “Leadership is the quality some people have that through what they do, they help others to be better and achieve their goals,” he replied, “And can I be a leader, dad? Yes, please, please, what do I have to do?
That moment led me to revisit everything I knew about leadership, through studies, readings, and conversations with thousands of leaders I´ve had, in order to respond to my son. Today I want to share the main learnings from that exercise.
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The first thing I will tell you is that the day I wrote this article I found 1,010,000,000 page results on Google
FERNANDO DADA
for “leadership skills”. That tells me that we know a lot about it, but we understand very little. Something I have learned is that we can dive into each of the topics related to leadership, but there are some characteristics and skills that have been statistically shown to be the basis of driving leadership effectiveness and that over 90% of leaders today recognize that they could develop.
I will start with the most powerful element of leadership based on my experience.
PURPOSE AND VISION.
An Elegant Leader must have the ability to incorporate his purpose and vision in ways that inspire others. All their actions and decisions are aligned 100% of the time with the care of this purpose. The leadership of any person is born from the search for something greater than any economic and selfish reason, a reason for being that combines vocation, profession, mission and passion. Perhaps the best task you can take away from reading this is just reflecting on the purpose of your organization and the purpose of your leadership.
Once we embody our Purpose and Vision then the second skill that plays a fundamental role in your effectiveness is to develop a Systemic Perspective. A system is a set of interrelated things that have a common purpose or function. The Systemic Perspective in Leadership then is the ability to understand everything that is connected in a specific context - the stakeholders -, the characteristics of those connections, and the differences that exist between those parts. As a leader develops his or her Systemic Perspective, then he or she is able to make decisions with greater awareness of the impact that these will have and
how they will affect or benefit his stakeholders. They will gain consciousness.
When you become a manager or leader of a team, you naturally require engaging in different conversations. These conversations can make or break us, reason why several professionals have developed models and methodologies to strengthen our communication capacity. Without a doubt, the most important element to master is the ability to develop others and drive their performance through a Constructive Feedback conversation.
The best gift that one person can give another is the opportunity to develop personally or professionally and this simple act of constructive feedback fulfills just that purpose while caring for the atainment of the organization's goals and objectives. An Elegant Leader is capable of having a simple, punctual and powerful conversation that invites the receiver of constructive feedback to modify certain behaviors due to understanding the impact these have on the system and how they hinder performance.
Considering that the world today is a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, Agile and Collaborative Execution as part of Elegant Leadership is the key to delivering results with committed teams even under the mentioned context.
An Elegant Leader is capable of generating sufficient trust, accountability, autonomy and discretion in his teams to be able to learn from mistakes, work with cadence and discipline; and, quicly and successfuly adjust course in front of constant change. Agile and Collaborative Execution requires transparency of all the relational elements of a team (tasks, responsabilities, roles, KPIs, results, challenges, etc). An Elegant leader must operate on the principle of shared
Elegant Leaders are clear on how Knowledge Transfer takes teams to performance levels never imagined before. We have grown making sure to protect what we know and protecting it from reaching the "opponent",our partner or family. The complexity that we live in today can be navigated and resolved more easily from a space with greater knowledge. The more knowledge we have and the more perspectives we integrate, the more we will be able to feed our information intelligence and make more effective and precise decisions. An Elegant Leader not only promotes knowledge transfer, but also understands that it also means being open to learning from others. He or she walks as an apprentice of every moment in life. by a leader who aims to generate results with inspired and committed teams are Purpose and Vision, Constructive Feedback, Agile & Collaborative Execution, Systemic Perspective, and Knowledge Transfer; all of these enhanced by comprehensive integral practices that strenghten your Self..
Not to leave the story unfinished, I share with you my answer to my son: “darling, in order to be a good leader you must be authentic, be who you are from the heart and invite
I have also learned that each of these skills are enhanced with practices that complement us as an integral being. These practices should focus on improving three fundamental elements: your presence, your emotional competence and your body (physical, subtle and causal).
In summary, the fundamental qualities/skills to be developed those who share your passion to achieve it together. ” Since then, my relationship with my children has changed my practice as a consultant, coach, and leadership development facilitator. I have come to understand that simplicity will lead to applicability.
Find your purpose and lead the construction of a more promising future that gives you a sense of accomplishment and passion. Transform your leadership into Elegant Leadership, a simple and powerful practice.
Mexican small and mediumsized technology companies that have an innovative value offering to compete in global markets.
FERNANDO DADA
About
Fernando Dada is an experienced coach and consultant in organizational and commercial evolution focused on solving business challenges within complex organizations. Since 2004 he has accompanied various organizations to modify behaviors and practices that result in individuals with greater personal well-being that promote a working community to achieve business objectives efficiently and reliably.
Originally from Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico has always focused on better understanding businesses and levers to achieve each person's purpose. After completing an MBA and an MSc in International Marketing in 2004, he began his work in Austin, TX as a consultant when he was invited to the FUMEC program called Techba, in which he supported the internationalization of Understanding the relevance of people and processes within a business, he decided to do two postgraduate degrees in competitive strategy at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and various certifications in Coaching, Leadership, Culture, Emotional Intelligence and learning methodologies.
His experience includes business strategy, business development, organizational change leadership and management, and leadership development projects with Fortune 100 companies such as Exxon Mobil, Verizon, Home Depot, Microsoft, Citigroup, State Farm Insurance, Johnson & Johnson, Dell. Technologies, FedEx, Cisco Systems, Delta Airlines and 3M. He seeks to impact the planet by strengthening visionaries who want to change the rules of the game and implement disruptive business models. His medium-term focus is to develop business relationships that allow the Hitos Consulting & Tribe University community to expand conscious practices He currently lives in Querétaro with his wife and two children. Always enjoys a good game of tennis or a good bike ride, as well as being able to cook and prepare a meal that generates a culinary experience leading to an unforgettable moment.
Twitter: @FernandoDada
