How does one become a leader?
You've heard the line “Great leaders are born, not made.” This sums up the Great Man Theory popularized in the 1840’s and later changed to the Great Person Theory, thanks to the emergence of women leaders in the workforce. This theory asserted that the capacity for leadership is innate and leadership qualities are inherited (especially by men from the upper class).
You research studies have debunked this theory finding that leadership is 30% genetic and 70% learned.
If leaders can be built, it’s not surprising that US businesses spend $166 billion on leadership development each year. What is surprising, however, is that 77% of businesses report that, despite this huge spend, leadership is still lacking
Assuming we can lean into the 70% of learned leadership, how do we become great leaders ourselves and, how can we help the leaders within our organizations evolve from good to great?
🔒This Week's Latch Unlock: Question your own leadership first.
Over the past 20 years, we’ve sat across from thousands of leaders as they’ve poured through their annual Voice of the Employee survey results. While the response varies from leader to leader, most go through all or most of the stages on the change curve.
Regarding and digesting what your employees think can feel like a punch in the gut and is rarely a fun or easy exercise…yet it provides a huge opportunity to shine as a leader.
One of our Latch clients is two months into a Culture Boost Program and is leveraging Latch to inspire and grow the top 30 leaders in the organization.
Each week we’ve asked questions to better understand the perspective of these leaders as it relates to the culture, priorities, leadership skills, and management practices.
After reviewing these pulse survey results and reading through the Reflect and Act comments, the COO’s response was one of the best examples of how to receive tough feedback with grace.
🎤She said, “Digesting this makes me question if what I’m doing as a leader is working.”
She explained that she took to heart the direct feedback that she, herself, talks a lot about the changes they need to make but sometimes it feels like it’s just that, talk.
As she reflected on the partial truth in that feedback, she expressed how it reignited her desire to be a better leader herself. 🙌
Wow.
This level of self-awareness, vulnerability, and honesty is exactly what the world needs more of. Instead of explaining away the results, making up excuses, or placing the blame on others, she questioned her own leadership first.
That's what we call a Latch Unlock.
