What is a golden rule of leadership that you apply?: Show others that they are important to you
Learning to be a leader involves experience. What’s one experience every leader should have? : The recognition of being wrong, and making an admittance of that fact
What’s a non-fiction book that you read that has impacted how you approach leadership?: How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie
Is there something about leadership that most people think is true or valid, that you don’t?: Leader-follower isn't really a thing. It's a two way relationship of mutual influence, defined more by title than by actual outcomes.
What’s a piece of leadership advice that you disagree with?: Anything that implies you can't admit mistakes. What a load.
What’s an experience that has shaped you as a leader, that you never want to repeat?: Not knowing something about someone in my team. Not being able to make a connection to that person. I learnt that it feels awful for both us, and I resolved to always have a way to connect with people I worked with.
What developmental activities would you recommend to leaders, and does this change based on the level of leadership?: Anything that promotes self-awareness. It changes based on personal growth more than level of leadership.
What development do you have planned for yourself?: More writing. It's a way to open up ideas and thoughts that are sitting below the conscious level and bring them up for examination and reflection.
Who would you like to see answer these questions? : Heaps of people! My family and friends. Senior leaders in non-traditional roles. Everyone who has ever sat down and wondered what to do when they have had a problem with influencing someone else.
If you could point a new leader to one resource on leadership, what would it be?: Search TED talks for leadership.
Who’s the first person you think of when you think of an example of leadership? Why?: Teddy Roosevelt. There are lots of reasons why, but the three key ones are: He had an awareness of his weaknesses, and his strengths, and offset them. He treated everyone as his equal. And he stood up for his beliefs.