We are being constantly told to be better communicators. As part of this push, courses and programs tell us to become "active" listeners. But this active approach towards listening can actually be counter productive and make our communication worse, not better. Consider some of the common recommedations of active listening:| Leading Sapiens
Control was the dominant management paradigm in early twentieth century industrial factories. A century later, in many modern workplaces it continues to be dominant and mostly goes unquestioned. Often we don’t even realize that this is the case. But in knowledge work, context is a far more effective and| Leading Sapiens
Transitioning into leadership roles can be especially challenging for experts/specialists. The domains of competence framework explains why.| Leading Sapiens
In his classic The Adult Learner, Malcolm Knowles makes the distinction between creative leaders and controlling ones. By understanding teams and organizations as systems, and their energy as a parameter, one approach tries to control energy while the other works on releasing energy in the system. Leadership as controlling vs| Leading Sapiens
Most leaders and organizations ignore the basics of the human OS. Their assumptions are from the domain of machines and material, not the human domain.| Leading Sapiens
Deliberate practice is a proven research-backed framework to improve performance. Here's how you can use it to increase leadership effectiveness.| Leading Sapiens
Context is a powerful tool in leadership but goes underutilized and misunderstood - a deep dive into why mastering context is essential to effective leadership.| Leading Sapiens
How do you view your role of leader or manager? Is it as a chess master or a gardener? The lure of control Often unknowingly, leaders and managers suffer from the myopia of control. The underlying ethos is of knowing everything, solving problems directly and having everything under control. It's| Leading Sapiens
Naïveté is considered a liability. But is it really? We've been oversold on the merits of sophistication and cleverness, meanwhile missing out on the benefits of a considered approach to naiveness.| Leading Sapiens
Locus of control refers to how we view circumstances in terms of the amount of control we have over situations and the experiences that affect us. I look at locus of control specifically in the context of leadership and management: how locus of control impacts leadership performance, and how it| Leading Sapiens
Understanding systems thinking is a must for modern leaders. In Reading the Room, David Kantor outlines a list of leadership capacities based on systems thinking and structural dynamics. They are particularly useful as a reference for developing your own leadership philosophy, practice, and model. Some of the terms Kantor uses| Leading Sapiens