Hack:
A Practical Framework to Practice Thoughtful Leadership Daily

Practice 1.

Admit To Yourself And Your Team (those who follow you) That You Are Not The Smartest Person In The Room

Power of the Practice: Once you admit to others and yourself that you are not the smartest in the room but still the leader, it frees your heart and mind to become more inclusive in how you source solutions to problems. Currently I am a Masters of International Marketing Canidate at HULT International Business School where we work in teams on assignments. In my team each of us were from 5 different countries and cultures. Collectively we had a team comprised of expertise sourced from Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal, Vietnam, and the United States. Although, I was the one with the most leadership as well as professional experience, I actively chose to openly admit that I was not the smartest person in the room. Over time my colleagues followed my transparency and it freed them to become their best within the team. Once you admit you are not the smartest in the room people will start to open up to you as a leader. In my team, I got the best out of my colleagues because they knew I wanted and needed their input on day 1 and every day thereafter.

In implementing the practice, admitting I was not the smartest person in the room gave me freedom and flexibility to ask questions and remain creative within the framework of each assignment. I was able to source better ideas and galvanize each team member to execute at a higher level because my flexibility in leadership provided freedom for creativity in each team members within the problem solving process. 

Practice 2

Demand Clarity From Yourself And Those Who Follow

Power of the Practice: Clarity is the source of executable ideas in organizations. Clarity is  saying what you mean in a way people who are listening can understand. Clarity must be mutually reciprocal. If a goal is expressed with clarity by the leader, the team can follow. Likewise, If a team expresses with clarity the ideology and methodology behind their execution the thoughtful leader can understand and best direct his or her team in the future. 

Having clarity in your leadership is imperative. My career path started with a Music Centric Televison Channel.  In my compacity garnered an understanding of how to define an iconic brand and continue it’s relevance on the Global stage. I coupled  the knowledge of brand relevance and added the framework to leverage the exercise of Brand Loyalty through humanizing household products in American Stock Car Racing.  Understanding Brand relevance and how to exercise loyalty of brands within households I leaped into  an International Iconic Luxury Brand within German Automobile brand with US Headquarters. 

After procuring these ventures successfully, the continuation of my personal brand was to hedge my novice financial skill set with Global Commodity trading, the transition provided understanding of risk management and finance modeling in one of most volatile Market Indexes of the last 6+ years. 

I’ve recognized in my career that leaders operating in clarity receive a return on investment that is sustainable. I was a new manager of a diversified talent pool. My previous experiences in business was working with contemporaries that saw innovation as enlightenment. My realization early in my career was innovation doesn’t go from concept to launch. Innovation must be supported communication grounded in clarity.  

I applied this lesson directly with an administrative associate specialist that I recognized had great talent but wasn’t engaged in the process. I observed the trend of average work based on how others communicated with her. She was an auditory learner; my point of engagement had fallen on the barrier of tone of voice. My pivot point in clarity was when I innovated my communication for a sustainable solution to our workflow; exercising thoughtful leadership. My recommendation in tone and speech towards the specialist coupled with encouraging verbal praise resulted in projects completed in 10 hour work days that once took 20-26 work hours. My clarity was the investment, the return was in sustainable improvement to the workflow and sustainable growth of human capital.

Practice 3:

Look for Value In Everything

Power of the Practice: In Business, when an organization provides a value to consumers that is clear and decisive in the market, then their on the way to profit. Likewise In life, people will give you their best if they feel they are valued. I was talking to a contemporary who is a Software Architect for a Large Consulting Firm in the United States. He told me how much he loved his new job and why he chose this company. The candidate was offered jobs by other Major Consulting firms but chose to take the current role with this particular consulting firm. This firm showed him that they valued him in a way he understood. In order to get the best of your team, the thoughtful leader must communicate the value in a way the team understands and appreciates. For my contemporary, he appreciated that the firm sent a executive limo to retrieve him from the airport during the executive courting process. He valued that in spite of US Economy constraints on excess spending that this organization valued him enough to send a limo and make him feel appreciated. Leaders be thoughtful in how you show how you value the team. It pays dividends.

Practice 4:

Cultivate Interest Based Mentoring Collectives

Power of the Practice: In organizations, mentoring programs for employees are formalized and filled with unnecessary bureaucracy. This type of mentoring experience is a waste of time and company resources if the desire is to get better solutions from your organizational members. 

The thoughtful leader builds interest based mentoring collectives. Find out from your team what their interest are, then find mentors who can help them develop their strengths anchored in their interests. At HULT International Business School, I was selected to participate in the Dean’s Scholars Accelerated Leadership Program. As a Dean’s scholar, we are taken on individual and team corporate visits that help to create the framework for our Action Projects. During the Action project, HULT graduate students work on a creating solutions to current problems for a Fortune 500 company. My dean is an expert in building interest based mentoring collectives. Being a Master in International Marketing Candidate at HULT with a background in management consulting and politics, my dean actively worked to ensure that I was always placed in an environment where my conveyed passion and interests would be stimulated. 

Hence, when the dean scholars were going to go on corporate visits my Dean made sure I was able to not simply visit with executives, but I was able to participate in framing the conversation for creating the framework for our action project through actively supporting my line of reasoning in the meeting. My dean did not do this because I am the smartest person in the room. My dean wanted to make sure his team (the dean scholars) maximized each mentoring experience and are able to return to professional life with strong contacts and experiences that will ensure that the HULT Dean Scholar will implement value added impact within organizations on day 1.

Practice 5:

Leverage Definitive Flexibility

Power of the Practice: In reflecting on our lives and the lives of our contemporaries, we created the term Definitive Flexibility (which is talked about more in-depth in our upcoming book, “This Room Should Be More Crowded”). For the thoughtful leader, Definitive Flexibility is essential to practice consistently in order to maximize each engagement with the team. 

One of the secrets in life is that people respond to givers. 

Definitive Flexibility is a preparation of the heart.

The mantra of the thoughtful leader who practices Definitive Flexibility is give before you get. The thoughtful leader knows what he or she needs to give their team in order to get the best results. Hence, the thoughtful leader defines themselves as one who gives and is flexible in the way they give. The thoughtful leader must actively seek to give greater than his team because his team will respond by giving their best during each organizational effort (if you are actively practicing the other 4 practices mentioned in this hack) because they are in engaged with their leader through their hearts and their minds. 

As a professional, I have decided that I am going to manage my personal life in a way that provides a stable foundation for professional endeavors. In writing our new book, “This Room Should Be More Crowded: A Guide to Thoughtful Leadership”, Elkanah and I discovered the need for leaders to have what we have termed Definitive Flexibility. I harvested the framework of my definitive flexibility in the approach of how I interact and communicate with my girlfriend. The 1st business principle we receive as leaders is to invest less than your portfolio earns and the result is a profit.

In the management of human capital, traditional business principles fall short. In the 21st century leaders must invest more and be willing to serve those they lead. In order to get my girlfriend to trust my leadership, I served her. I gave more of my time even when it was not ideal; sacrificing Sunday Football for Church and Brunch with her Family. I made sure to bring her flowers or a gift every time she returned from a business trip because memory served me that she felt most valued when a gift was her reward. This was also cross referenced in my own research of psychologist theory behind the “Love Languages” of your partner.

Hence, I made sure to foster environments where I could only listen to her; no TV present, I’d even book restaurants that I’d heard had bad cellular signals just to break myself of the habitual smartphone habits. I chose to lead the giving of myself through time and effort specific to what my girlfriend highlighted as her needs from me. I reframed my methodology and became a Giver. I became more selfless. In the 21st Century leadership will be a service. Implementing Defintive Flexibility allow one to  continiously serve well while making sustainable growth in human capital possible.

Closing Thoughts

Embrace Thoughtful Leadership. Discover the power of practice.  Throw away the old mindset of DIY Leadership where you are an isolated leader. Embrace a better future for you and your organization through exercising thoughtful leadership to cultivate a team environment in your organization. Thoughtful leadership should be evident in all parts of our lives so that we receive a steady diet of challenges in order to perfect our executable ideas. As leaders we must make our environment conducive for the growth of those that follow us. 

Please email us at ElkanahReed13@gmail.com and Sterling.Douglas@gmail.com with how you have implemented our practices for Thoughtful Leadership and how they have changed your leadership life. The best examples we would love to include in our book, “This Room Should Be More Crowded: A Guide to Thoughtful Leadership”.