An inconvenient truth about leadership is that you may be living in a bubble without realizing it. This isolation is not intentional— it is a byproduct of the demands of the job. With time being the scarcest resource, leaders rely on their inner circle to filter and prioritize business needs that require their attention. The leader’s lens of the business is the cumulation of inputs received from advisors.
To fix the leadership bubble problem, leaders must surround themselves with the right people to stay grounded, get the 360-degree information required to make decisions, and take actions that result in lasting change. Below are seven people that are vital to a leader’s success:
The trusted advisor
Great leaders need trusted advisors who can speak the unspeakable, have expertise and influence, see the bigger picture, and have good judgment. For advisors to be effective, the leader must intentionally nurture the advisor relationship and treat them as co-pilots—seek feedback and recognize them when they speak candidly. Marshall Goldsmith, the World’s #1 Executive Coach, has this insight for leaders: be courageous enough to ask for feedback, humble enough to receive it, and disciplined enough to follow through. Resist the urge to be defensive, dismissive, or rationalize. In Marshall’s words, “Say thank you.” Take time to reflect on what you just heard. Afterward, share your reflections and come up with an integrated solution to address the issue. Do your trusted advisors share difficult news promptly? Do they hold you accountable? Are you open to new ideas and rethinking old ones?
The coach
Think of the greatest athletes in the world; Simon Biles, Serena Williams, Cristiano Ronaldo, Anthony Joshua, Michael Phelps, Tom Brady, Lebron James, Roger Federer, etc.—they all have coaches. John Wooden is considered the greatest NCAA basketball head coach of all time. Wooden was named NCAA College Basketball Coach of the Year six times. A coach is a thought partner who works with you to become the best version of yourself. Similarly, leadership is a team sport. Think of the untapped potential you can unlock when you partner with a leadership coach. Great athletes have coaches. Do you have a leadership coach? If not, what’s your excuse?
The sage
Experience is indeed a good teacher, and it can be fulfilling to figure things out by yourself. In reality, you don’t have to lose an eye before understanding the importance of wearing safety glasses. Every leader needs a mentor who has been where they want to go. Accelerated growth comes from learning through others. For this to happen, a leader must be humble enough to admit they don’t know everything and courageous enough to ask for help. The invaluable wisdom and experience from mentors help leaders go faster and farther.
The minority voices
These are people who are further down the organizational hierarchy. You hear their voices in town halls, through employee surveys, and in public forums. The minority voices are the pulse of your organization—they indicate the levels of engagement, morale, and productivity. Since they are the boots on the ground, leaders must listen, reflect, acknowledge, and take action on their inputs to activate the minority voices. They reflect the culture of your organization to customers and stakeholders, which ultimately drives the bottom line.
The confidant
A confidant is someone you feel safe sharing your secrets with and who does not have a conflict of interest. At times, the executive chair can get overheated. It is easy for leaders to bottle things up when they don’t have people around to confide in. This can create a myopic perspective and may result in unhealthy mindsets and toxic behaviors. Instead of isolating, leaders need to find trustworthy people to act as sounding boards—to share intimate thoughts, struggles, and mistakes.
The Goliath
Think of the people who keep you up at night—competitors, disruptors, demanding customers, difficult team members, employees, or bosses. Leaders don’t have to look for Goliaths; they have a way of showing up at your doorstep. The question is what you do with them. It is natural to distance ourselves from people who are different from us; after all, like attracts like. Abraham Lincoln had a different approach to working with Goliaths. After being elected president, he appointed his three rivals to his cabinet. According to the National Archives, Lincoln believed that “By putting his rivals in his cabinet, he had access to a wide range of opinions, which he realized would sharpen his own thinking. It also gave him a way of keeping all those conflicting opinions together.”
The balcony friend
These are people on the sidelines who support and cheer you to keep going on. They believe in you even when you do not believe in yourself. They can be your friends, colleagues, family members, or teachers. Whatever you take for granted becomes grounded. You must stay connected and appreciate the role these people play in your life to not lose them.
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