What if leaders spent less time building themselves up and more time building up others?
When leaders face challenges, they’re often encouraged to take a long, hard look in the mirror. Frances Frei, co-author with Anne Morriss of the book, Unleashed: The Unapologetic Leader’s Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You, agrees that leaders need to take responsibility. But she thinks they should replace the mirror with a window.
To do that, leaders must shift away from looking at themselves and, instead, empower their teams. She explains what this looks like: “If I walk into a room, and I’m thinking about me, and everybody else is thinking about me, then I’m not doing a good job. I want to walk into the room and be thinking about everyone else. I want to be thinking about how to unleash greatness in everyone else.”
As part of unleashing team members’ greatness, Frances believes leaders must also grow their team members. And when team members aren’t growing, leaders need to understand why. That’s where self-assessment tools can be helpful. For example, she shares a tool that can help leaders understand why they may be losing their team’s trust.
She also shares a tool that helps leaders determine whether a team member’s underperformance is a result of their own behavior or organizational bias. When it comes to organizational bias, she points out that when “there are demographic patterns associated with who’s thriving, it’s super clear whose fault it is…no question the firm is doing something. Not on purpose. They’re probably hitting something with their tail, but we have to fix it.”
Frances Frei is a Professor at Harvard Business School, and she recently served as Uber’s first Senior Vice President of Leadership and Strategy. She regularly works with companies on organizational transformation, including embracing diversity and inclusion as levers for improved performance. Her TED Talk on Building Trust has been viewed four million times.
Curious Minds Team
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Episode Links
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