#1

#Leadership RemoteWork #Belonging #Power

Not much in this snippet is new to the remote work conversation, per se. Gladwell, author of several insanely popular books, makes an important link between work and belonging, astutely placing that need-to-belong front-and-center. He's also spot on in putting the onus on leaders to communicate through the complexity of the moment.

But he's "getting frustrated with people in positions of leadership" for the wrong reason. Leaders don't need to explain the need-to-belong to workers -- they need to make work a place in which workers feel they can belong. Perhaps people are loath to return to office because organizations and leaders failed to provide that belonging there, in the first place. Worse, they now often find themselves without the ability -- or the trust -- to create it.

#2

#Leadership #Culture #SelfAwareness

We really liked this leadership framework from scholars Modesto Maidique and Nathan Hiller. The graphic and article describe 5 different leadership "mindsets", their corresponding emphases, and the stakeholders which each profile serves. (Anybody else read the "sociopath" description and think, "Ohhhh, that explains it!").

But the authors describe that we're usually a mix of these different leadership styles -- each of us a unique portfolio comprised of different weightings, which also evolve over time. The key is self-awareness: taking the time to ask ourselves about our mix, and making the effort to ensure we're intentional about whom we wish to serve.

The framework inspires some other great questions, too:

To what extent does a given corporate culture incent leaders to serve different types of stakeholders? Which of the leadership profiles inspire us, as employees? How valuable or important is exposure to different styles?

Curious as to your own mindset/s? The authors link to a self-assessment tool at the end of the read.

#3

#Leadership #ItsNotAboutYou

To be clear, we don't feature this to poke fun at someone who was clearly upset when he posted it. But because this post by Braden Wallake, a CEO who recently laid off several of his team, struck such a nerve: it garnered 30,000 reactions, generated 6,000 comments and made its way to scores of global news outlets.

Some of the comments praised Wallake's vulnerability. Some applauded the courage it took to showcase his emotion; even, or especially, on a "work platform" like LinkedIn. Others lambasted him for doing precisely the same thing.

For our part, we can't help but feel that the post was ultimately about Braden; not his team. In the parlance of the leadership framework we just looked at? It sounded an awful lot like an egoist mindset.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week. 🙏🏻

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