Insights learned from Extraordinary Leaders at International Women's Day

Insights learned from Extraordinary Leaders

As an Executive Coach to extraordinary leaders, I get to see first-hand the qualities and traits that define excellent leadership. I was invited to RISE London last week to celebrate International Women’s Day to talk to senior leaders about what makes a good leader. 

Here are three of the key insights I learned.

Great leaders know when to let go. I see this far too often where the CEO continues to be indispensable as the company scales. They are wearing too many hats and spreading themselves too thinly, parachuting in every time the bell goes off. It can breed a culture of individuals waiting for instructions. Successful leaders empower their teams, they give individuals the opportunity to step-up, to grow and to develop within the organisation. To quote Richard Branson, “I expect people to take ownership and make things happen”.

Make time for rest. I regularly see leaders exhausting themselves and not taking sufficient or any rest! Burning out when you are 3Y into your 5Y goal isn’t smart. Downtime needs to be prioritised. It needs to be respected and is a key part of your professional armoury. Driven by passion and in service of their goals, they try to sprint through life, which simply isn’t sustainable. Intermittent recovery time is built into all sports, to balance the periods of high energy. Important that we build in our own adequate recovery time and it is not seen as optional. Warren Buffett has the right approach when he said “Really Successful People Say No To Almost Everything”.

Great leaders hire great people. I have seen many instances where leaders surround themselves with mirrors, they hire in their own image. This doesn’t encourage diversity of thinking or different approaches. Successful leaders have self-awareness, they know their strengths, they double down on their areas of expertise and surround themselves with experts for the core pillars of the business. They recognise different ways of doing things can lead to the same high-quality output.

I was coaching an entrepreneur recently and he used the analogy of football to describe his organisation. “We have a great defence and midfield, but we need to score more goals. Adding strikers to the team will help us establish ourselves as a world class business”. Successful businesses have a diverse and balanced team. Lasting and successful organisations grow up as a diverse group, not as a set of individuals. 

Many thanks to Magdalena Krön, Clare Whitehead and Bohdana Hevierova for hosting a great event. Great listening to Diana Paredes from Suade Labs, share her entrepreneurial journey and the challenges of running a business. Also great to hear from Ann Francke on conscious leadership.