I’m encouraged to see more leaders recognize that individuals and organizations need connection to thrive. Here’s a video of Polly LaBarre at MIX interviewing Ivy Ross, Gap’s Chief Innovation Officer, about the need for connection to innovate. To learn more about “Connection Cultures” download the Connection Culture Manifesto published by changethis.com. You can go even deeper into Connection Cultures by signing up for my new quarterly email newsletter after which you will receive an email that contains a link to a free download of Fired Up or Burned Out, the book that introduced Connection Cultures.
Monthly Archives: April 2011
Book Ends Interview and Discussion Guide
Some time ago I did an interview about Fired Up or Burned Out on Book Ends with Susan Stamm. Susan and here colleagues developed a discussion guide based on the interview. You can hear the interview here and find the discussion guide at this link.
Leadership Is Dead: How Influence Is Reviving It
In Leadership Is Dead: How Influence Is Reviving It, Jeremie Kubicek, CEO of the leader development company GiANT Impact, makes a clear and compelling case that “dominating leaders” who lead by coercion are on the decline and are being replaced by “liberating leaders” who lead through influence.
Kubicek observes that leadership has moved from a noun to a verb. It has become a means or vehicle for appropriate change rather than a goal or end in itself (i.e. to become the leader who exerts power over others). Peggy Noonan, President Ronald Reagan’s speechwriter, once stated it this way: “Poor leaders want to be great. Great leaders want to do something great.” Kubicek points out that for leaders to successfully make this shift, competence is required to get the job done well and character is required to build strong relationships based on mutual trust. People are much more likely to give their best efforts when following a liberator than a dominator because this type of leader helps the people he or she leads and, in doing so, develops a bond of connection.
I highly recommend this book. In addition to making a valuable contribution to leadership thinking, the stories and examples make it a page-turner.
Over-Connected, Are You?
Check out this thought-provoking presentation by MIT Professor Sherry Turkle. It’s about the topic of her book entitled Alone Together. She does an outstanding job of articulating the risks of becoming addicted to virtual connections.
As human beings we need to feel connected to other people in order to thrive. I’ve written extensively about this in the Connection Culture Manifesto and in Fired Up or Burned Out. We are human beings not machines. We need to develop intimacy, trust and affection with our family members, friends and colleagues at work. Absent meeting the need for feeling connected to others, we dysfunction. The subtle allure of feeling connected online can develop into addiction so we must guard against allowing virtual connections to crowd out time for face-to-face connection. Striking the right balance is key.
In her presentation, Professor Turkle points out that virtual connection represents another threat in that it can crowd out time to be alone with ourselves. I couldn’t agree more. We need time to reflect on our lives and who we aspire to be. This is essential to develop strength of character and moral confidence. Nelson Mandela, in a letter he wrote in 1975 while incarcerated at Robben Island Prison, expressed this so well: