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The Making of a leader: Leadership Begins with You · Sandra Elizabeth - The Leadership Collective

• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Leadership Collective.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Sandra Elizabeth.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Today we begin a new series called The Making of a Leader.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: The first podcast is entitled Leadership Starts With You.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Many people believe that leadership begins when somebody gives them a position, when somebody makes them a manager, when somebody makes them the supervisor, or even when they become the CEO.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Getting your name outside your office door also doesn't make you a leader.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: You see, leadership begins long before the title.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because before you learn to lead a department, to lead a team, or lead a company, or even an organization, there is one person you must learn to lead first, and that is yourself.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes that is the most difficult person you will ever have to lead.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let me begin with my first point.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Your position doesn't make you a leader.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: There is an important difference between having authority and having influence.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Any company can give you authority.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: But they cannot automatically give you influence.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Influence has to be earned.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Think about the leaders that you've respected throughout your career.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Was it simply because of their job title?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Probably not.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: You respected something about the way they carried themselves.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's possible that they remained calm under pressure, they treated people with dignity, they were willing to make difficult decisions, or even admitted when they were wrong.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now that's leadership.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: A title can make people report to you, but leadership makes people trust you.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you the story of Indra Nui, a woman who took leadership beyond her boardroom.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: When Indra was CEO of PepsiCo, she became known for an unusual leadership practice.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: She reportedly wrote personal letters to the parents of some of her senior executives.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because she remembered something from her own experience.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: After becoming the CEO, she returned home to India and noticed people congratulating her mother on her daughter's achievement.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: That experience helped her recognize that successful executives often have families who contributed enormously to the people they became.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: So she took it upon herself to begin acknowledging them.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: She was running one of the world's largest corporations, yet she understood something very human.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: People want to know that they matter beyond their job description.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership isn't always demonstrated through huge strategic decisions.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes leadership appears in how you make people feel.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, before managing others, learn to manage yourself.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: One of the biggest mistakes we make in leadership development is teaching people how to manage everybody else before teaching them how to manage themselves.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: How many leaders do you know that manage other people but don't know how to lead themselves?
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so we teach delegation, we teach performance management, we have meetings, we strategize, we ask for feedback.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: But what happens when the leader cannot manage their own emotions?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: What happens when criticism makes them defensive?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: What happens when their mood determines how they treat their employees?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Before asking why won't my team change, sometimes the better question is what needs to change in me?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: A leader has to change before changing the company.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: When Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in 2014, he inherited a huge successful company.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: At the same time, Microsoft was facing major cultural challenges.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Nadella didn't simply begin by saying everyone else needs to change.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: He emphasized a different mindset.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of a culture filled with people trying to prove that they already knew everything, he encouraged the employees to become learners.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: And the idea became very famous.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Move from being a know it all to a learn it all.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: That principle applies directly to leadership.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: One of the most dangerous moments in your career is when your title becomes so impressive that you believe you have nothing left to learn.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Great leaders remain students.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: The higher you climb, the more intentional you have to become about staying teachable.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, your team is watching more than you realize.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: People don't only listen to what leaders say.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: They watch what leaders do.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: They watch how you behave when something goes wrong.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: They watch how you treat junior employees.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: They watch how you respond when somebody challenges your idea.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: They watch whether you take responsibility for your mistakes.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: They watch whether the rules you create for everyone else also applies to you.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: You may think that nobody notices, but let me remind you today that they actually do.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: They do notice because eventually your behavior becomes permission.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you constantly arrive late, lateness becomes acceptable.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you gossip about employees, gossip becomes acceptable.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you ignore poor performance, poor performance becomes acceptable.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: But the opposite is also true.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: When you as a leader demonstrate accountability, accountability will become normal.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: When you remain respectful during disagreement, you teach people how professionals disagree.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders teach culture every day, often without realizing that they're actually teaching it.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, lead your emotions.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: One of the greatest leadership skills isn't necessarily written in a job description, it is emotional regulation.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Great leaders have emotions.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: They're human, they're normal.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: They become frustrated, they become disappointed, they even become angry.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: They experience enormous pressure, but mature leaders understand not everything I feel needs to become everybody else's experience.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine a CEO receives terrible financial results.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: She walks into the leadership meeting angry.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: What happened?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Who messed up?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Why didn't anyone see this coming?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so everyone becomes defensive.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: People stop thinking about solutions because they're trying to protect themselves.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now imagine the same CEO enters and says, We have a serious problem today.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: These numbers aren't where they need to be.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Let's understand what happened.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see what we can do next.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Same numbers, same problem, different leader.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership doesn't mean pretending that everything is fine, it means choosing your response instead of allowing your emotions to choose it for you.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Number five, sometimes leadership means admitting that you were wrong.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is where leadership becomes very uncomfortable.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders aren't always right, and sometimes the most powerful words a leader can say are, I got that wrong.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Howard Schulz stepped down as CEO of Starbucks in 2000.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Years later, he returned as CEO when the company was struggling.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Starbucks had expanded rapidly, but Schulz believed something important had been lost.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: The customer experience had weakened.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, the company had grown, but parts of what made Starbucks distinctive had become watered down.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: In the year 2008, Starbucks temporarily closed thousands of US stores for several hours so that their baristas could retrain in making espresso.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Think about the cost of doing that.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: A company essentially saying, we're going to stop selling for a few hours because we need to get better at what we're supposed to be good at.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now that's a great leadership lesson there.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes growth requires you to stop.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Look at what you're doing, acknowledge what's no longer working, return to the fundamentals.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Great leaders don't defend every decision that they ever make.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: They ask, what does the organization need now?
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Number six, stop blaming the team for everything.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes employees genuinely underperform.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people aren't right for the organization.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: They are not the correct fit.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: But when the same problem keeps occurring with different people, leadership has to become curious.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: If five employees have failed in the same position, perhaps the problem isn't the five employees.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe expectations are not clear.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the training isn't sufficient.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the manager constantly changes priorities.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the role itself is badly designed.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: So great leaders develop the courage to ask, how might I be contributing to this problem?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Immature leadership looks outward first, but mature leadership is willing to look inward.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Number seven, your private habits become public leadership.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership isn't created only in meetings, it's developed through your everyday habits.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Can you keep commitments?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Can you manage your time?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Can you prepare properly?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Can you finish what you started?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Can you receive feedback?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to apologize?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Can you change your mind when someone presents a better idea?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Can you remain teachable after becoming successful?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership is built through small disciplines repeated consistently.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot continually demand excellence from others while accepting mediocrity from yourself.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Number eight, don't confuse confidence with knowing everything.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: A leader doesn't have to be the smartest person in any room.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, if you are always the smartest person in the room, you may need a different room.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Strong leaders surround themselves with people who know things they don't know.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: They ask questions, they listen, they learn, they aren't threatened by someone else's expertise.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Steve Jobs is remembered as the visionary behind Apple.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: But his leadership journey wasn't a straight line.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: In 1985, he left Apple, which is the company that he created.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine that.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: You build a company and then you find yourself outside of it.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: He later described that period in his life as being painful but also creatively liberating for him.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: He went on to build Next and became deeply involved with Pixar.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Years later, Apple acquired Next, bringing jobs back into the company.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: He eventually became CEO again and helped lead one of the most remarkable corporate turnarounds in modern business history.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: The lesson isn't that every failure automatically creates success.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: The lesson is this: your greatest leadership setback can become part of your leadership education if you're willing to learn from it.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes losing the position forces you to develop you as a person.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Number nine, your leadership has a ripple effect.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: A frustrated CEO pressures a director.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: The director pressures a manager.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: The manager in turn pressures a supervisor.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: The supervisor pressures an employee.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: And the employee goes home carrying the pressure of the organization.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: You see, leadership travels, but good leadership travels too.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: A composed CEO creates confidence in directors.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Confident directors create clarity for managers.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Clear managers create stability for employees.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Stable employees serve their customers better.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: That is why self-leadership isn't merely personal development.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: It affects business performance.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: So this week, instead of evaluating everybody around you, evaluate yourself.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Get out a notepad, write these five questions, and answer them.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, what is it actually like to be led by me?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, what behavior am I tolerating in myself that I wouldn't tolerate in someone I lead?
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, who am I under pressure?
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, what is one leadership habit that I need to change?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Number five, what is one leadership strength I need to intentionally develop?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: As I come to the end of this podcast, I want to leave a leadership challenge with you.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: For the next seven days, practice leading yourself first.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Before correcting someone else, ask, have I been clear?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Before blaming someone else, ask what part of this belongs to me.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Before reacting emotionally, ask, what response does this situation require from me as a leader?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Before demanding accountability, ask, am I accountable?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Before expecting excellence, ask, am I demonstrating excellence?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean that leaders blame themselves for everything.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: It simply means leaders accept responsibility for the things that they can influence.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Indra Nui reminds us that leadership is human.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Satya Nadella reminds us to remain learners.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Howard Schulz reminds us that sometimes leaders need to return to the fundamentals.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Steve Jobs reminds us that setbacks can become leadership education.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Different people, different industries, different circumstances, yet one principle connects them.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that is leadership starts with the person before it reaches the position.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: So don't spend your entire leadership journey trying to fix everybody around you while ignoring the person in the mirror.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because leadership starts long before somebody follows you.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership starts with you.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: If this podcast has encouraged you today, share it with somebody.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Sandra Elizabeth, and this is the Leadership Collective.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and keep becoming the kind of leader that you would want to follow.