Leadership

When I joined Airbnb in early 2013, the two topics that CEO Brian Chesky was most curious about as he heard me converse about creating organizational culture as a strategic differentiator were: (a) mindset; and (b) moving from the transactional base of the hierarchy of needs pyramid to the transformational peak (which you can read about in my book PEAK). For the sake of this post, I’m just going to focus on mindset.

One of my greatest regrets is never meeting management theorist Peter Drucker who died just before his 96th birthday in 2005. Why do I admire Peter? Let me count the ways:

When I was at Stanford Business School, unfortunately, I could not get off the waitlist for the most popular class, affectionately known as “Touchy-Feely.” Chronicled in this article, this class (formally known as “Interpersonal Dynamics”) created foundational skills in effective communication, leadership, teamwork, emotional intelligence, and creativity.

The two most prominent pieces of advice Dad gave me in my teens were “marriage is a compromise” and “keep your options open.” For a young mind, this wisdom seemed to be at war with itself, but with a few years behind me now, I’ve come to realize that paradoxes and juxtapositions are the most interesting parts of life. Jung suggested maturity was about “holding the tensions of the opposites.”

As I mentioned before when I riffed on Wisdom Well with my friend Seth Godin for a week, my number one piece of advice for cultivating and harvesting wisdom is very simple. Take an empty diary or journal, write “My Wisdom Book” on the front or inside the cover and every weekend create a few bullet points of what you learned that week and how it might serve you in the future.

Fleeing my native California, I couldn’t see the ground after the plane was 50 feet in the air. Too much thick, billowing smoke. The earth was scorched. Three hours later, I arrived in a parched Texas that had two hurricanes barreling toward the Gulf Coast.

We each play many roles – employee, parent, manager, partner, colleague, volunteer, and others. We often play multiple roles throughout any given day, and during this pandemic, in which our work, relationships and home life fuse chaotically together, we may play various roles within the same minute.

Our emotions are contagious. The fact is, the more senior we are in an organization, the more infectious we become. Today’s post is dedicated to a brief review of five leadership qualities that will serve you and your tribe—helping you spread positive energy (and productivity) throughout your entire organization.

I have a naughty relationship with knots. Even though I was on my way to becoming an Eagle Scout in my early teens, I couldn’t tie a knot to save my life. I was especially bad at tying knots to hold up my bathing suit, so often, upon jumping in the swimming pool, my suit would be hanging around my ankles, and I’d be in “Full Monty” glory for family pictures.

In this recession, many Boomers are busy brushing up their Slack and Instagram skills, doing their best to stay relevant. Maybe there’s another newly discovered skill that has even greater upside?