What is Leadership?

Leadership is not a title you get given. It is the behaviour that makes other people want to follow you, trust you, and do great work when nobody is watching. I start by separating leadership from management: one can enforce process, but the other has to create belief in a vision and help a team feel part of it, especially in a sales environment where pressure is constant.

From there I work through five leadership traits I rely on. We talk about being the example and why integrity is the real currency of influence. We dig into consistency and how unpredictable moods create a workplace where people hide mistakes. There is also a memorable Apollo-era story that shows exactly what not to do. I share simple routines that kept me steady while running sales teams, plus a practical tweak that helped me model work-life balance by stopping late-night emails from landing in other people’s inboxes.

We then get into active listening as a leadership skill, not a soft extra: how to listen to understand, ask better questions, and defuse issues even when you cannot solve them immediately. Finally we look at communication and adaptability during uncertainty, including how to keep people informed and focused without fuelling panic, and how to stay calm, assess scenarios, and adjust course.

If you want a clearer, more human approach to leadership that improves retention and performance, subscribe, share this with a manager who needs it, and leave a review with the trait you are working on right now.

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Transcript

Why Leadership Fascinates Me

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Leadership is one of those things that I've always been interested in, and I'm not really sure where that comes from. It might be I was the eldest of three children, so um, and my parents weren't when I was growing up. It was the way things were then, and so I looked after them and I took on different things as a child that I guess these days would be more unusual. Um, so this was looking at the the 1960s and 70s, so quite a while ago now. So I don't know if that's where my interest in leadership came from, but it's definitely something that's been there uh for quite a long time, and I like to read things about leadership. I'm always curious about other people's take on leadership. I'm always curious about how to improve how I am as a leader. Uh, so I thought in this podcast I would just share some thoughts, and they were triggered a little bit by an article I saw which um was looking at five leadership traits. Now, I'm not gonna kind of abate and go through this article, but there were some sort of headlines that I've used as a guide, or these in fact the five traits that I've used as a guide, but just really to I thought it would be worth sharing my own thoughts, experiences on this, and hopefully that will be of value to you. So the first thing is that you know, what is a leader? And for some people, leader and manager are the same thing, and to me they're absolutely not, because a manager is someone who simply makes sure that a certain process is being followed, certain steps are being followed within whatever the context is, it might be business or somewhere else. But it's basically about that, it's about ticking box, it's about you know doing step one, step two, step three. Leadership is much more about inspiration, it's about holding a vision of where you want the group that you're responsible for, and obviously we're speaking in the context of um industry or business, and that might be a sales team because these podcasts are primarily about sales, but the the but obviously some of the subjects would go across a whole range of different um uh types of occupation. So, to me, leadership is about holding that vision of where you want the business to go and being able to communicate that to the people who work for you, essentially the people who by their efforts will make it happen, because we can't do everything ourselves, and also inspiring them to get really behind it. So it's not just the case of going through the motions of doing what it takes to fulfill this vision, but actually do it with enthusiasm, be inspired, feel part of it. I think this is a very important aspect of what happens when people are employed. Uh there are certainly bad managers out there, very bad leaders, and that's where you tend to lose people. And also, if people don't feel a part of what's going on, if they feel kind of left behind, or if they're irrelevant, that's another place where you are going to lose people, and this is not a good way to lose good people in particular. So leaders can definitely be made, that it's not something that you're either born with it or you're not, but it's about understanding some basic principles, and that's really getting back to uh what this podcast is about. So the first thing that I want to talk about talk about is being an example. So, and what I mean by that is walking your talk, it's about sharing your values in a way that other people can see that they're absolutely genuine, that you are um not just saying one thing and doing another, but you have integrity basically. That's what it comes back to, which is another thing which I feel is a really important aspect of good salespeople. And what I mean by that, it's about doing the things that a leader will do and actually being the example for people who follow you. Because one definition, I'm gonna paraphrase this a little bit, of a good leader is that a good leader or a great leader is somebody who creates more leaders, and that's a really important thing. One fundamental thing, and I've seen this with bad managers, is that they're afraid of their staff and they will do things to keep their staff down, they will limit their responsibilities, they will micromanage them, all these things that bad managers do. I'm not going to go into that. So a leader is not afraid of the people he is leading or she is leading, and that leader is showing how it's done, they are the example for new people coming through, they are living their values, they're walking their talk. So that I think is an important thing to start with, to just remember to be the example of what a leader really is. Now, another aspect is being consistent. So I think the worst people to work for are those who you're never sure which person you're going to get. Some days they're great, you can talk to them about anything, other days they just cut you down, they don't want to know. It's just you, you know, really not somebody you want to spend any time with. And this is certainly uh something I felt very strongly about when I got into management was to be consistent so that people who worked for me, people who reported to me, knew that they'd come to me with any issue and they would get time and we would sort it out. And it wasn't a case of trying to work out if I was in a good mood or not. There's actually a story from the um American Apollo mood landings of um a particular guy, he was an astronaut, he was grounded for quite a few years and then got to fly again. But while he was grounded, he was made manager of the astronaut office, and that meant he managed the day-to-day aspects of all of the individual astronauts, and he, by all accounts, was not the most pleasant person to be around, and his secretary, this lady at the time who was his secretary, used to put a photograph up in front of the office to show what mood you were getting that day, and it might be a picture of this guy with a big smile on his face or a bit of a scowl or looking absolutely livid, and then these poor astronauts who are coming up to who had to see their manager for something, they could kind of decide if today was the day or go somewhere else. So you definitely don't want to be that guy. I mean, this is a great example of a bad manager. So be consistent. Um, I find habits are helpful. Um so certainly when I was running sales teams, when I was if I was getting into the office, there was one I used to run on the other side of Sydney from where I lived. So I'd just be on the road by six in the morning, I'd get to the office at about 20 to 7, I'd open up, put the coffee on, and then wander across at seven o'clock to the cafe on site and get my breakfast. But that gave me a chance to talk to the guy who worked for me in New Zealand, and it gave me time to just get my things done, and I would really make sure I had no more than three things to get done each day myself, because as soon as I was back in the office and people began to come in, that was it. Constant interruption, and you were lucky if you had time to really sit down and get things done. So I think that's important. Now, one other thing that I forgot to actually mention with the uh be the example, and I've just reminded myself, um, was emails because I'm a big believer in you know, when you're working, you're working, but when you're not working, unless it's absolutely essential, you don't work, you spend time with your family, you do things that you like, you have that work-life balance. And I realized that I was being a bad example at one point because um I was living on my own, and I would just quiet time get quiet time at home when I wasn't in the office, and I'd start writing emails to people, and I'd do it in the evenings, I'd do it at weekends, and it just dawned on me at one point that I was not being the example of how to have that life work balance. I was telling people to do one thing and I was doing something different. So at that point, I changed my habits. Um, I did actually carry on working out of hours, but I would make sure any emails I sent they were timed, so they went out during working hours. So um that was the thing about consistency. But yeah, keep habits that you can maintain, that you can be consistent and you can be there for people. Now, the third thing that came up was being there and just listening, being a good listener. And I think as a leader, that's really important. And this is also I've trained as a life coach. Um, I've been an NLP practitioner, behavioral profile, all of that stuff. The most important thing, and this is very true of being in a leadership role and a management role too, uh, but I think it's less common in a management role, and I'll be happy to be proved wrong there. But that's be a really good listener. Just listen and listen when someone is speaking to you so that you understand. And that is really important because a lot of people they start to listen, the person they're speaking to says something, and it immediately gets their brain running off in a particular direction, and they think they've got the answer, and then they're just sitting there waiting for that person to stop talking so that they can deliver this answer that they've had that's just you know popped into their head. Of course, what's happened while they're thinking about all this stuff is that the person who's speaking is carried on speaking, but the listener is no longer listening, so who knows what you've missed out there. And listening is how we learn, obviously. And as a leader, it's really important to understand what's going on with your people, is to understand where they have difficulties, where they have successes too. But it helps you to understand what's working, what isn't, and from there you can decide on the course of action. And you may well do that by consulting with the person who's raised the issue, or it's maybe something that you do within the group. But by listening, you get a heads up on these kinds of problems that you can then, if possible, do something about. Now, something that I found that that I think is really important that I've spoken about before, is that when I've had people come and talk to me, I've always listened to them. And I haven't always been able to solve the problem for whatever reason. But the difference is that that person who spoke to me felt that they'd been heard, and often that would mitigate a lot of the issue. Just the fact that I was willing to sit there and listen and we'd have a discussion about it and look at what could be done. But going through that process got rid of a lot of the issues. If you don't have that, you don't want these things bubbling away because at some point you're you're gonna they're gonna explode, you're gonna have an issue. So being a good listener is just really important. Communicating effectively is another one, and this is partly it's about regularly communicating the vision and letting people know where we're at. You know, I I would do this with regular, I'd had like to have monthly sales meetings. We were on the agenda, it'd be how everybody was doing, we go over numbers, we look at the group, we were looking at how we were doing uh in terms of year to date. Were we on track? If not, what did we need to do? Were there new things coming up that we're going to change things, all this kind of stuff. But keep people involved in the process of making the vision happen so that they feel that they're a part of it, and that way everyone stays aligned and focused on it. And this is particularly important when things go wrong. So we had the GFC uh a few years ago now, happily, but when that happened, this was clearly it was just one example of a situation where people were really concerned about what the impact would be, uh, not just on their earnings, but would they still have a job? And so that was one of the things that I made sure to, in fact, I remember having a special meeting with my people to discuss where we were at and how that was going to affect us. And because of the nature of our business, we were actually reasonably well insulated. So that's the good news. But again, it's really important to communicate and deal with difficult issues. Now, that doesn't mean that you have to tell people everything because there might be aspects of what's going on that are not clear, they may have a negative impact on the business or they may not, and it then becomes a judgment call about how much you actually share with the people who are working for you. But the key thing for them is they you need to keep them focused, you need to keep them motivated. So I'm not just talking about lying to people, but I am saying that sometimes you don't need to tell people absolutely everything, you know, you have to make a judgment call with a view to keeping those people functioning and not being overly worried about a worst-case scenario that may never happen. So that's my view on it, that's my opinion on it, but I think it's an important aspect of being a leader. And I think the final thing, or the final thing that came out of this anyway, was to be adaptable. And that's really important because, as we all know, life can well is uncertain and it can throw uh one or two curveballs our way every now and again. So it's about stepping back and looking at what's going on, and um, you know, maybe talking about what's happening, what the likely impacts are. But when things get tricky, the most important thing is it's about being staying with that consistency, being the example. It's not about panicking and running about and you know making calls that you'd half thought about, but just purely reactive calls. Step back, don't get into that and start looking at okay, what are the what are the implications of this and what's the likely impact? What's the best case scenario, worst case scenario? What do we need to how do we need to adapt? How do we need to change what we're doing in order to get the vision to happen in order to bring things back around? So some people refer to this as stoicism. Um, I'm not sure it would be, but um, yeah, you don't do the headless chicken thing, that's for sure, but you do make measured responses to what's going on and communicate communicate those to your people because they need to feel that obviously you're on top of it. By all means get their input, their feedback. You want to be because you need to be listening in case there is a worry there that either you'd missed or certain people have taken got it wrong, and they're worrying about things that won't happen. So you need to obviously get those fears allayed as quickly as possible. But you know, be consistent, be solid, be the example. So all of those things pull together, and whether things are going well, or whether you've hit a bump in the road, or maybe you've crashed into a wall. Um, wherever you're at with it, it is about just you know, staying cool, don't panic, start thinking things through, looking at implications, and how do you then communicate this to people in such a way that they're able to stay focused and not be constantly distracted by these potentially negative situations that are going on. So those really are the the five things, and I guess just to recap, um the first thing was to be the example. Walk your talk, show your integrity, be true to your values. All of those really those core things that are a fundamental part of you. It's not just about being true to your values in private, but it's about demonstrating, it's about being a leader, and in doing that, you're inspiring people to help you get the vision to happen, but you're also inspiring them to become leaders themselves. Because uh, if you're in a that kind of a management leader role, it's highly likely that some of the people that are reporting to you will become leaders in their own right at some stage. So you want to be the person that they look back on fondly and they um you know ask themselves, what would you have done? And that's um a really nice um kind of reference to have. The second thing was about consistency. So I think um, again, my own opinion, but it's really important to have that relationship with staff where they can come to you if things go wrong, because obviously it's life, we're all human, and um, every now and again we'll make a mistake. That's just part of life. So I've definitely worked in places where you first of all A would not want to make a mistake, and then B, if you did, if you could get away with it, you'd kind of hide it or not own up to it. And C if you got caught, you knew that you were in for you know real trouble, and that is a really unpleasant environment to be in. So what I've the environment I believe is important is to have an environment where people are aware that look, mistakes happen. We do our best to avoid them, but when they do happen, the first thing is put your hand up and say, I think I've made a mistake, because then some sort of re remedial action can be taken to correct the issue, hopefully. Um, the second thing is what can we learn from that mistake? What can that individual learn? What can they do differently next time? Maybe it's something that needs to be shared within the group. Again, not to um make that person out to have done something wrong and to put them down in some way, but just to say, okay, this situation happened, it could have happened to any one of us, and this is what we need to be aware of in order to not let it happen to any one of us, and so you can share as a group and move forward, and again, you're increasing your capabilities as a group. So that's about consistency. The third thing was just listening, and I say just listening, but listening is one of those things that I find most people uh really have no idea how to do it. Uh what they do, they will either interrupt and talk about themselves or they will do the kind of thing I spoke about, where they'll get an idea and then they're just waiting to share, but they've stopped listening. Um, it's really important to just be quiet, let the person speak, and make sure and be really focused. Um it's called active listening, where you're actively listening and picking up on keywords that they're talking about and asking questions to get clear. It's they are sharing something with you. It's really important that you understand fully what it is that they're trying to communicate. And the the best way to do that is to first of all actively listen, be absolutely focused on what they're saying, and then ask questions so that you are absolutely clear about what it is they're talking about, and then you can um take the appropriate action once you've done that. Finally, be adaptable. So it's I mean, it's being the rock, I suppose. You know, you're you're the vision, you're the kind of light at the end of the tunnel, maybe, or wherever you want, or you're at least holding that vision, but also you're the rock, you're that solid person in the group that anyone can come back to. And if things are going wrong for whatever reason, then you can provide that reassurance, that changing strategy, whatever it is you need to do to keep things on track. But you are um the the sort of anchor for the group. You stop things uh sort of falling apart and going all over the place. Okay, so that is um just something that I was inspired to record this podcast about. I hope you found that useful, and um I I'll speak to you on the next podcast. Okay, bye for now.