A question was asked at TEDxUtopia: What would leadership in Utopia look like? To begin, visualize the most excellent leader you have ever worked with. How did he or she get to become this type of leader?
Leadership lecturer and former corporate executive, Lars Sudmann argues, it’s likely that they learned to overcome the “leadership formula of doom” and then developed themselves as a leader. In this video, Lars Sudmann takes us through the personal journeys of great leaders, shares lessons from the golden age of leadership and 3 strategies on self-leadership to develop yourself into a “Utopian leader”.
1. Self – Awareness: When you become a leader, it’s actually crucial to be self-aware of yourself. With self-awareness it is important to do a “character traits check”. A character characteristic check may be done by asking oneself, who was the worst leader you ever had? So, what did he or she do to be such a bad leader? Did he or she scream or conceal information?
The idea with this test is to rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 on how good you are at sharing or withholding information. Then assess your own effectiveness as a leader in relation to that characteristic.
2. Self-Reflection: Taking just a couple of minutes during the day and thinking about the challenges that you have faced and those you might face during the day. Ask yourself, how did I perform as a leader yesterday? What kind of leader I would like to be? What would I like to do and how would I face the present challenges? Reflecting for one or two minutes on these points can help raise your compassion level for others.
3. Self-Regulation/Reframing: You may have done your awareness and reflection, but you will still experience moments and discussions. You will still have meetings and conversations when individuals walk in and say, “Yes, I will do everything; I have everything ready.” And after a few days they will say, “Sorry, I don’t have the report ready that I had promised.” People will challenge you. How can you surpass these challenges?
Self-Regulation is one tool that helps enormously in what is called reframing.
What is reframing?
Pause for one or two seconds and think.
Well on a scale from one to ten, how important is that issue right now? If it’s a 10 well then you engage fully in it and if it’s 2 or 3 then taking a step back and reframing that situation can help you enormously in addressing the situation.
Lastly, Lars Sudmann advises to invest time in self-awareness, self-reflection, self-regulation, and self-leadership and if you all start doing it now and somebody asks in 10 to 20 years from now, “Who was the best leader that you’ve ever worked with?” Maybe they will think of you.
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