I’d like to reflect on leadership and something I call external stimuli, which are really important for any leadership role. I’ve known this intuitively for some time now, but could not articulate it particularly well until I read Herminia Ibarra’s book Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader. Ibarra was at INSEAD for many years, and she ran a programme for Unilever women which I was fortunate to be invited to join when I was at Save the Children International. At the time of writing this, she is at the London Business School, and is a prolific researcher and writer on all things leadership.
One of Ibarra’s theories is that we all need external inputs to keep moving and developing. We need to speak to people from different walks of like, ask them questions, and learn from them to look at things in different ways. I’ve always been naturally curious, and as I came out of my early finance ‘box’ that people tended to put me in (and where I no doubt had firmly put myself), I more and more sought out different people and experiences. I’ve always put it down to the fact that I enjoy learning, and I’m sure that’s been the impetus. The benefits, however, are what I hadn’t set out for, consciously, but which Ibarra describes in her book. Reading it, I recognised the advantages accruing from my own approach, although I’d never said to myself ‘I’m doing this to make myself a better leader’. Particularly in my role as Chief Executive, the people I’m going out and meeting, the relationships I’m building with people very different from myself, and the ‘connections’ I’m making between things, are all extremely helpful to my work in developing and growing the ACT. I’m very lucky that the role itself encourages this ‘getting out there’, and indeed that our own events include thought leadership from some of the most interesting people.
If I reflect back on a younger self, I used to allocate my time in a different way from now. I would as ever work hard and apply myself conscientiously, but if I were invited to an external event or conference, I would place less significance on it versus my internal work and priorities. Don’t get me wrong: I still am cautious and would want to ensure value from any event I attend, and will rarely participate in anything which is going to cost the company money, when I know there’s generally enough out there for free! But my approach now is different. I follow up on chance meetings, I actively look for reading recommendations, I talk to business relationships about ideas and thought leadership not necessarily on the business agenda at the moment. And this is something I would encourage everyone to do. I’m constantly amazed at the new connections popping up which have great relevance for the ACT going forwards. Even taking up a new hobby or going to something with a friend that you wouldn’t normally consider, can start to get that external stimulus going, which can lead to all sorts of interesting developments. And whereas some people might think this isn’t a focused approach, there is something about connections, coincidences and serendipity that I’ve often experienced, which suggests to me that this is as important as the other more ‘planned’ or structured activities we undertake.
If I think about an introduction a few years ago at an ALMA event (that’s the Asset and Liability Management Association), to the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship, an initial chat has moved to a partnership where I know a lot more about FinTech than ever before, we’re able to include up-to-date thought leadership in our qualifications on the subject of technology, and we’ve had stimulating conversations about how the human brain is developing in this era of technology – all very relevant to the ACT and its membership over the longer term.
In her book Ibarra also explores the concept of ‘just doing it’. As the book title suggests, Ibarra maintains that acting like a leader results in you becoming a leader. This hearkens back to references I’ve made to muscle memory and trying things out until they become your own – or even ‘faking it ‘til you make it’. The more you practice, the more it works and is natural.
Of course, this is based on a premise that you know what leaders do and how they behave. Well, sometimes it’s difficult to think of the perfect leader, and someone in particular who we’d love to be like. But I’m sure most of us can conjure up an image of a leader we don’t like, and who we definitely don’t wish to emulate. A good leader would then be the opposite of that.
So we know what we’d like to be like as a leader, and we’re convinced that acting accordingly will help get us there. But what do we do next? We build a plan. I like plans, but even I have to remind myself of making them, as it can be easy to think I’ll remember everything, or know what to do, and just jump into things. Or say to myself ‘I haven’t really time to make a plan.’ A good exercise to start an ‘act like a leader’ plan is to write down, in a table of two columns, what leadership qualities you admire and want to exhibit, and what qualities you’ve seen in leaders that you’d really like to steer clear of. Then map out how you’re going to avoid the latter and develop the former. You can use RIVAS, a coaching tool or methodology which sets out your real intention, and follows some steps in order to help you get there, or Mind Maps, or just a simple list of actions or milestones. It’s up to you. And possibly as important to me as forming a plan is to train yourself to think in the moment about what kind of qualities you are showing. And practicing the right ones. So: plan, and practice.
Authenticity is key to leadership, and you won’t come across as authentic if you seem to be working off a list. So I think it’s about slow but steady development, determining the qualities you really value and want to demonstrate, and practicing them one at a time. A lot of research maintains that it takes about 10 years or 10,000 iterations to get really good at something. As Angela Duckworth, the neuroscientist and researcher, says in her book Grit, lots of small, mundane things lead to greatness. So, we should be seeing this as a medium-term ambition, not change that happens overnight – though of course we’re probably not starting from zero either.
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Author: Caroline Stockmann, former Chief Executive, ACT. Article adapted from the strategic insights podcast