Think Like a Leader
Most of us tend to think we are open-minded leaders, alert and receptive to new and different ideas and opinions. Yet when we scratch below the surface we become conscious of the assorted walls and defences we create to reinforce our current position. Of course if we bend and sway with every new idea and thought we create instability; but if we never shift we become fixed and rigid.
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Feel Like a Leader
New ideas or approaches can be unsettling and can shift us out of the comfort of the known and into the uncharted waters of the unknown. Managing our feelings when listening to those who may challenge our fixed positions is essential if we are to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world.
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Act Like a Leader
Practising how to open our minds starts best with tentative steps, gentle exploration of areas we don’t know and making a conscious effort to intentionally find and listen to different ways to lead and do business.
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Think is one of the best radio programmes / podcasts for looking at a broad range of contemporary issues. Broadcasting out of Texas it is popular across the USA – and, with the internet, now reaching a global audience. Hosted by the acclaimed Krys Boyd this episode has her interviewing Wharton School organisational psycholoigist Adam Grant. He argues that sometimes growth comes through unlearning ideas we’ve always thought to be true.
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In this article for People Development Magazine - 5 Characteristics of an Open-Minded Leader - Christina Lattimer illustrates how an open-minded leader gains the trust of the team. She thinks the quality of an open-minded leader is an underrated and misunderstood characteristic. Here she explains what these qualities mean in practice.
1. A thirst for learning
2. Curiosity
3. An ability to see things easily from different perspectives
4. Acceptance and respect for others beliefs and choices
5. An awareness that their own and others beliefs and filters can be limiting
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We like to be open-minded and free-ranging in the sources we use for learning and how to get better at what we do. This great short video comes from the construction sector – and, as you might expect, is both relevant and practical.
(If you have problems accessing the YouTube link, try opening the newsletter in your browser).
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This wall mural is in the foyer of the Highland Cinema in Fort William. This new cinema building has been designed as a twist on a traditional highland property, with a red corrugated roof and stone walls. The red stone of the walls is from Glen Nevis, the slate from Ballachulish and the grey stone from an old sheep fank on Blarour Farm.
The front entrance facing Cameron Square has been designed to reflect the red roof and stonework of a traditional bothy, the humble building that has welcomed and sheltered travellers across the Highlands for centuries. Cinemas have suffered significantly from the lockdown, but perhaps these smaller community venues will lead the rebound.
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The Outward Mindset Seeing Beyond Ourselves by The Arbinger Institute and published by Berrett-Koehler in 2016.
This manual explains how assuming an outward mindset – looking at concerns beyond your own narrow perspective – can lead to rewarding results for individuals and organisations.
The Arbinger Institute was founded in 1979 by Dr. C. Terry Warner, the scholar who solved the central problem at the heart of the human sciences: the problem of self-deception. That work revealed two distinct mindsets from which people and organisations operate - a self-focused inward mindset and an others-inclusive outward mindset - and the path to sustainably changing mindset and results.
In this book Arbinger reports that companies whose leaders recognise and deal with deeply entrenched mindsets have a much greater chance of implementing change than companies whose leaders do not. These leaders are those who have learned to see beyond themselves.
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It's Grim up North. Really? #82
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...without a little reflection, there is no Insight Added.
"A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open."
Frank Zappa
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Lead well
Graham and Lesley
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