I wrote an email today for a student I met at a Supply Chain Conference who had enormous drive, talent and capability but mentioned that she encountered a number of people who were taken aback by her style and confidence. I shared with her what the biggest lessons I have learnt (painfully) about working in business, and afterwards thought it would make a nice blog post to share with you all.
Some of the key things I have learnt along the way, from either personal experience or study:
1. Listen first
As Covey says; ‘Seek first to understand, then be understood’. The best way to get your opinion understood and heard is by opening the mind of the other person. The quickest way to do that is to be concerned about them, their views, and their situation. Only then will they be really willing to consider what you have to say. The more you talk and do not listen, the less they hear.
2. Give to receive
It does not matter about how smart or intelligent you are, or how much you know. It only matters if you can translate that into dialogue and solutions that people can understand, follow and ultimately feel as if it was their idea in the first place. Some people will not see things at the speed you do – learn to adapt to deal with it, don’t be frustrated by it. Your greatest skill will be in developing the optimal way you can share your knowledge with others – talking ‘at them’ will not be it. The more you get frustrated with others, the less effective you will be.
3. People learn more if they enjoy the experience
Leave people feeling better for the experience of dealing with you. See point 2.
4. Leadership is not about you, it’s about them
Leadership is about creating the environment where others have a say and can contribute – not where you overwhelm people with your views and opinions. There are absolutely no limits to what you can achieve if you do not care who gets the credit. This is the most difficult one to put into practice and the one that has taken me the longest to realise. Most basic human psychology is all about recognition and servicing the needs of the ego. If your intention is to build a truly great team and organisation you have to park your own ego needs and not care if someone else gets the credit for what you ultimately came up with – it’s all about the team and the progress you make – together.
5. People have to make the choice to change
You cannot make them change. You cannot convince them to change. They have to reach the point where they decide themselves that change is the right decision. This requires you to be able to embrace point 4. The overwhelming desire will be to say ‘I told you so’. Don’t. Smile inwardly, think it, but don’t say it. It will only annoy others because for the change to stick they have to almost think it was their idea. However, if you then state that it was you who came up with this, then all you will do is unravel the progress you have made. Took me years to figure this one out.
6. Be kind and say kind things
Always operate with good intention and integrity. There will be times when people take advantage. This says more about them than you. Don’t compromise your integrity for anyone or anything.
7. Do not lose your inner fire to always learn and develop
Constantly strive to learn more and be better tomorrow than you were today. However, one of the greatest skills you can learn is how to share that knowledge with others so that they can also benefit. Intelligence and knowledge has little value unless something changes for the better because of it.
Hope this has been, in some way, of help to you. Like I said, it’s not an exhaustive list – but it is important stuff in my humble opinion.
Sean CuleyBusiness Transformation Expert (SCOR-P, FCILT)Sean Culey (SCOR-P, FCILT) is a global keynote speaker on the topic of disruptive technologies and their impact on businesses, the economy and society. He is the author of 'Transition Point', a detailed look at the causes of technological disruption and the impact it has had on our society, and how the current wave of technological change - from robotics to AI - will completely disrupt our business models, economy and society at large. Sean is also the author of numerous articles published in magazines such as Forbes, The World Financial Review and The European Business Review.
Sean is an expert at helping companies develop and deliver new customer centric business models, and he advises supply chain leaders on how to align their organisation to ensure they are executed successfully. He has 25 years of experience including six years as CEO of business consultancy ‘SEVEN’, and a decade working for Cadbury Schweppes, where he was the Global Design Authority on what was the world’s largest SAP implementation. He has developed a series of masterclasses about Disruptive Technologies and how companies can create new business models to exploit them.
Sean is also Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University and a Fellow at the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (FCILT). He is also the UK’s only certified SCOR Master Instructor and a futurist for IBM Watson.