[00:00:00] Hi everyone. My name's Dex Randall, and this is the Burnout Recovery Podcast where I teach professionals to recover from burnout and get back to passion and reward at work.

[00:00:22] Okay, my friends, what we're going to talk about today is the great leadership debate, which has been sparked today by Forbes magazine, because Forbes posted this morning on why leaders are ditching the "nice boss" approach, and we all know what they mean. The COVID era forced a leadership empathy correction. Dubbed the gold standard of leadership, it's now reversing, becoming more hard-nosed.

[00:00:52] As I see it, both the old and the new styles are examples of leadership following the profit imperative of their time. Yet Forbes are saying it's one or the other -people or profits.

[00:01:07] Jim Collins, the author of Good To Great, on how companies enduringly outperform their rivals, disagrees. He suggests that "Great vision without great people is irrelevant". Profits follow people. Leaders who pick one over the other misunderstand the sequence. Empathy and results are not opposites.

[00:01:31] Harvard researcher Sean Achor agrees: "Happiness is the precursor to success". Measurable results start with wellbeing.

[00:01:41] I probably would've let some of this go, even though I was a little bit shocked that Forbes put this article out, except that I saw a second post after that today from Amantha Imber: " Eight things that make my organizational psychologist brain explode". It's highlighting the hypocrisy that still exists in the company/employees dynamic.

[00:02:05] Her rant resonates quite strongly with me, and you can see links to both articles in the show notes if you'd like. I'm a firm advocate of heart-centered leadership, the kind where we view our people as whole people, and encourage each to engage and flourish according to their personality and unique strengths.

[00:02:29] But that makes sense to me from a personal, team and profitability perspective. If we become hard nosed, as Brene Brown says, "Depersonalization is the process by which we suppress our natural restraint and become willing to hurt, exclude, or degrade people. When we 'other' them, we stop being humane or respecting their human rights."

[00:02:58] She says, "When the culture of any organization mandates that it is more important to protect the reputation of a system and those in power than it is to protect basic human dignity of the individuals, you can be certain that the shame is systemic, money is driving ethics and accountability is all but dead."

[00:03:20] And to me, what she's reflecting there, that systemic shame really smacks of narcissism and cults.

[00:03:28] So, for those leaders tempted to cut back on treating employees well -in an attempt, probably to reduce costs, meet targets, or raise productivity- it doesn't really work out. The economics of harboring sick, absent, disengaged, and scared workers, whose tenure is often short and bitter, will not be stacked in your favor.

[00:03:53] One of the hallmarks of rapid environmental change, as we had in COVID, even something as simple as acceleration of technology change, is fear. When we're in fear, what we most want is control. Thus, as leaders in uncertain times, autocratic leadership becomes more seductive To meet targets, it might seem easier to micromanage, than to create more efficient teams. In the end, though it isn't. You'll strangle the very efforts of the team you are micromanaging with a command-and-control playbook.

[00:04:33] Leadership loss of control was keenly felt at the sudden rise of remote work during COVID. And don't forget, the accessory to fear is emotional avoidance. AKA addictive behaviors. Not just compulsive message checking, but boundaryless work hours, erratic priorities, poor mood management, uncoordinated efforts, and lack of trust. Lately redubbed productivity paranoia.

[00:05:06] When leaders are intolerant of underperformance, what they're really saying is either they hired a dud or they've failed to mentor out the requisite good habits, skills and accountability they want to see.

[00:05:22] They will likely be very metrics driven, to the point of smothering results. Profitability really tends to come from invisible problem-solving efforts -forseeing obstacles and harmonizing team dynamics- and only later reflects in the bottom line. If you are looking for proof about how teamwork drives profitability, read Creativity Inc, by Ed Catmull. It's about turning around an ailing Pixar animation department, to the point of producing unprecedented box office hit after hit, mostly by optimizing teamwork.

[00:06:01] If leaders use phrases like "Step Up or Step Out", or "Everybody's Replaceable", they mean themselves, clearly. As they abdicate from supporting their people, the law of reciprocity applies.

[00:06:16] Today's workplace seems to require a new mindset and approach, when we look at the extent of suffering and anxiety that prevails.

[00:06:26] I call it survival of the fittest, but not by performance, by a professional's ability to withstand neglect, exploitation, frustration, and harmful treatment. If history's repeating, the Industrial Revolution springs to mind.

[00:06:43] Developing recession-proof skills these days, then, really means being able to survive anxiety, guilt, overwork, frustration, conflict, uncertainty, and pressure, usually without mentioning any of them.

[00:07:00] But as Timothy R. Clark says in his book, "Without psychological safety, there's no learning. And without learning, there's no innovation".

[00:07:09] So is the "nice" boss gone for good? Yes, I hope so!

[00:07:16] Because Nice is blind. It really doesn't see people to be able to nurture and encourage them. It doesn't see whole humans .

[00:07:26] If those nice bosses are giving out free lunches, well, free lunches are amongst the most painful events I've ever attended.

[00:07:34] So let's come back to teamwork. Once you do the work and establish psychological safety, solid teamwork, trust, then you're really leading by praise, not blame; listening, not dictating; inviting, not demanding; taking time to get to know each person; making sure each team member feels heard and valued for who they actually are; getting to know their background, strengths and weaker points; having their backs and ensuring that they do the same for each other.

[00:08:10] And when you do all of those things, you build a team that's far, far more than the sum of its parts. You inspire, connect, galvanize, and satisfy them. And this is where trust begins.

[00:08:24] And with trust, your team will outperform. And it's okay then to set high standards and ensure accountability.

[00:08:33] Simon Sinek: "So goes the leader, so goes the culture".

[00:08:38] Dan Sullivan: "Leaders should be hero-makers, empowering others rather than abdicating responsibility." Dan runs a coaching program for business owners to 10x their business based on the pillar of doing 20% of the work that they are best at and love the most, delegating the other 80% to trusted team members who they empower to succeed. I think it's a fantastic model. I use it myself.

[00:09:07] Brene Brown: "Leaders must either invest a reasonable amount of time attending to the fears and feelings, or squander an unreasonable amount of time trying to manage unproductive behavior and missed performance."

[00:09:23] Of course, if you are listening to this today, and feeling a tiny bit queasy about your own leadership style, I've got great news for you!

[00:09:31] I coach leaders to the ultimate of high performance with Emotional Intelligence, which creates a win for you and your team, and of course your company. I base my coaching on the proven systems of all the experts that I mentioned today, and it produces massive results for my leadership clients.

[00:09:52] I especially hope what you picked up from today was some inkling that human-centered leadership simply works better than metrics-and-fear-based micromanagement. It produces superior results and stronger cohesion and engagement.

[00:10:09] As a team member, you already know this, right?

[00:10:12] But as a leader, you might want to be contrarian and adopt a counterculture leadership style, that won't break you, or your team.

[00:10:22] Give yourself permission to thrive.

[00:10:24] To be honest, I've been in the trenches of burnout, supporting leadership growth for a really long time now, and I have a very solid method and I will show you how.

[00:10:35] So if that is your dream, if you want to become the consummate leader, if you want to shuck off burnout forever, book a free consult with me at dexrandall.com.

[00:10:45] Let's free you up to be the best leader you can be, leaving burnout behind forever.