Leadership is a learning process and sometimes we need a little inspiration.
Over the past few months, I've sat down with five of the most progressive business leaders, across multiple industries, and asked them one simple question: "What is the most important thing you've learned about leadership?"
While this broad question evoked an array of responses, they all had one thing in common: they all embraced humanistic qualities.
Here are their answers in no particular order:
Listen
"As leaders, we're wired to have answers and solutions. Listen. Don't jump to the answer or what you think the answer is...listen. The more you listen the more you learn. " -Tim Ryan, US Chairman of PwC
Build Trust
"Building trust through the organization is important. If people trust you, it builds loyalty and it makes them feel safe. And when people feel safe, they'll try new things, they'll take a few risks!" -Tracey Massey, President of Mars Chocolate North America
Don't Be Afraid to Fail
"In the states, in the last 20 years, there's an acknowledgement that failure leads to success - that you have to learn and continue developing and evolving. And frankly it's a lot easier to raise money after you've failed once because people understand you've learned. " -Randall Lane, Editor at Forbes
Never Fear Change
"Entrepreneurship is a lot about learning; you're inventing a company that didn't exist before, so you have to lead into a learning culture. Never fear change. Learn in real time...we can build great teams and learn together." -Idit Harel, Founder and CEO of Globaloria
Create Other Leaders
"We are truly the generation that can make history and it starts with us leading the way by not being selfish. The more you empower others...and embrace team and mentoring - I guarantee, you will manifest more opportunity than you can handle." -Gerard Adams, Founder of Elite Daily and Fownders
As leaders, it's so easy to feel like we have to slap an "S" on our chest, be the ones with all the answers, and never fall victim to failure. But in order to build something truly great, we have to remember that we're humans. By sharing and collaborating with other humans, we become the most powerful versions of ourselves.
Lead on!
Infographic made with Visme.