232. The Five Pillars of Leadership with Mick Spiers

Unlock the secrets to transformative leadership by blending ancient wisdom with modern insights in this compelling episode. Join us as we explore the enduring influence of Aristotle, the power of collective effort through an inspiring African proverb, and the caring leadership philosophy of Teddy Roosevelt. Our engaging conversation with business philosopher Anders Inset reveals how these timeless lessons can redefine success by moving beyond societal expectations to foster personal growth and authenticity. Discover how aligning leadership with one's true self can create a more profound impact, forming the five pillars of a leadership philosophy that thrives on care and intentionality.

Furthermore, we dive into the art of empowering leadership, where trust and freedom of choice reign supreme. Drawing on the insights of Otto Scharmer and Dr. John Demartini, we uncover how profound focus and deep listening can harness the collective potential of teams, leading to long-lasting success that benefits all stakeholders. Finally, insightful guests Carl and Mark share strategies for leading through crisis, offering practical advice and inspiration on resilience under pressure. This episode provides an enriching narrative on mastering the three dimensions of leadership—self, team, and business—equipping listeners with the tools to navigate the complexities of leadership with grace and strength.

Chapters

• 0:00 Leadership Through Ancient and Modern Wisdom
• 10:59 Empowering Leadership
• 19:14 Leading Through Crisis

Transcript

Mick Spiers: 0:00

How does ancient wisdom and modern philosophy influence the way that we lead? Have you ever stopped to think about your own leadership philosophy? In today's episode, I'll be reflecting on the amazing conversation with business philosopher and as incept, I'll be exploring how ancient wisdom and modern philosophy have shaped the way that I see leadership, reflecting on the importance of redefining success and the journey of self discovery that comes with leadership. And stay tuned to the end, where I'll be sharing the pillars of my own philosophy of leadership. Hey, everyone, and welcome back to The Leadership Project. Today's episode is going to be a solo cast, and I'm going to be reflecting on my conversation with business philosopher Anders. Indset. We explored all kinds of topics with Anders, from ancient wisdom to modern philosophy, but really thinking about what it means to be a leader in a modern world. How does philosophy and ancient wisdom shape the way that we see leadership? I'll be reflecting on the importance of redefining what success means and talking about the journey of discovery that comes with leadership. I want to double down on some of the core lessons from that conversation and dive deeper into how these ideas have shaped my leadership philosophy, I'll be sharing some of my favorite quotes that stay with me every day to shape the way that I think about leadership, and stay tuned to the end, where I'll be giving the five pillars that really resonate with me about my own leadership philosophy. So let's start with this key point that Anders and I discussed about how we can learn from ancient wisdom and philosophy. It's remarkable how the insights of figures like Aristotle still resonate in today's world, especially in leadership. And here's one of my favorite examples, and one of my favorite quotes, Aristotle once said, anyone can be angry that is easy, but to be angry with the right person to the right degree at the right time for the right purpose and in the right way, that is not easy. This speaks to the heart of emotional intelligence. Before the term emotional intelligence was even thought of, and this is at the core of leadership. Leadership is not about being reactive. It's about being intentional with our emotions, our decisions and our responses. So if I'm ever struggling to think about what it means to be an emotionally intelligent leader. I come back to this quote time and time again. Another key quote that resonates with me strongly about the role of leadership is also one of my favorite quotes, and it's an African proverb that's always resonated with me, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. This is a perfect illustration of Leadership in Action. True leadership is not about doing things solo. It's about bringing others along for the journey and creating an environment where the collective strength of the team is greater than any individual effort, we go farther together. And finally, another quote that I hold dear is from Teddy Roosevelt, no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care if we want to make an impact as leaders. It starts with building trust. It starts with showing that we genuinely care about the people that we lead. When we lead with care, we earn the right to guide others towards success, as Simon Sinek puts, Leadership isn't about being in charge, it's about taking care of those in our charge. Another key and profound moment in the discussion with Anders was about the idea of redefining success. Too often we define success by external measures, money, status, followers. But as Anders pointed out, we need to move beyond external validation. Success needs to be defined within and as I mentioned, success is not about the destination. It's not even about the journey. Success is about who we become on the journey. When I think about my own journey as a leader, I realize that it's the growth I've experienced along the way that matters most. Success is not about the accolades or the external markers of achievement. It's about the mindset I've developed, the lessons I've learned, and the person I've become. Every setback, every obstacle, has been an opportunity to grow, to learn and to evolve into the leader I am today. That's why I remind myself, growth is the real success. As long as I'm progressing, even in small ways, I'm moving. In the right direction, and I encourage you as leaders to do the same. Focus on the progress, focus on the process, and focus on the person you're becoming. That's where true success lies. To double down on what Anders was talking about with external validation. In today's world, it's easy to get caught up in the pursuit of likes and and that external validation. We're constantly bombarded with curated images on social media where people show only the best parts of their lives. We've gone from comparing our house to our neighbor's house to comparing our Instagram account to someone else's perfectly edited Instagram account. This is where comparison becomes the thief of joy. We can easily get lost in the idea that we need to be like someone else, or that our success is only valid if it's measured against the success of others. But when we fall into this trap, we miss the true essence of leadership. Fulfillment comes from within. True fulfillment doesn't come from likes followers or external approval. It comes from within by knowing that we're making a meaningful impact, by staying aligned with our purpose and by focusing on what truly matters to us. This is what makes us proud. This is what will fulfill us. When we break away from the need for external validation, we free ourselves to live more authentically and lead more effectively, which is an excellent segue to reflect on Authenticity. Authenticity is something I've spent a lot of time reflecting on, especially in my own leadership journey. The question I often ask myself is, do I show up as my true self every day, or am I constantly striving to meet my perception of society or other people's expectations of me. Let that sink in for a bit. Do I show up as my true self every day, or am I always thinking ahead about what other people are expecting and trying to meet their expectations? Which leads me to Carl Jung's work on the self, the ego, the identity in the shadow, this is really powerful in helping us understand this. We discussed these ideas in previous episodes with Irene Riad and Evan sparger. Young taught us that authenticity is about understanding and integrating all parts of who we are, especially the parts we try to hide or deny as leaders, it's crucial to show up as our whole selves. Leadership isn't about wearing a mask or trying to meet other people's expectations. It's about embracing who we truly are and leading from that place. When we lead authentically, we create a space for others to show up as their true self. That's where the magic happens. When people feel safe to bring their true selves to work, they perform at their very best. So have a think about that. Do you know your true self? What is your ego, your sense of self? What is your identity? How do you portray yourself on the to the world and what is your shadow? What are the things that you are hiding? What are the things that are distant, away from your true self? Okay, so now, as I promised at the start, I want to talk about the key pillars or elements of my own leadership, philosophy, principles that have guided me and help me create an environment where others can thrive. These are things that have built up over time, and they do come on the shoulders of others, learning from the greats, learning from ancient wisdom and learning from modern philosophers. My core belief in leadership is that people want to be seen, heard and valued. They want to know that what they do matters. They want to know that they matter, and mattering starts with purpose. It's our role as leaders to give people that purpose, to make them feel seen, heard and valued. When people feel like they matter, they will do things that matter, and that's where the power of mindfulness comes in, being present, free from distractions. When someone is talking to you, make sure that they feel like they're the most important person in your world at that moment. And this is a powerful way to make them feel seen, heard and valued, and to show them that we care. The next pillar in my philosophy is about empowerment and trust, and let me share whether this is coming from leadership is also about freedom of choice and freedom from oppression, the freedom to make decisions to have. Voice and to take ownership of one's work. William Glasses, choice theory, mind reminds us that people have five fundamental basic needs, survival, love and belonging, power, fun and the need for freedom. When we see human behavior, we can usually map it to one of these things, when they're behaving erratically, we can look at and go, Okay, do they feel threatened right now? Which is where survival kicks in, when they do things for other people's appreciation, or that external validation we're talking about. Was it their need for love and belonging that was coming through loud and clear, where their behavior will show us that their need for love and belonging is sometimes even more important than their need to be right. So human behavior can be broken down by understanding our five basic needs, and the key one I want to talk about is freedom, providing people with the freedom to make choices and empowering them with trust creates an environment where they can excel. People need freedom. They need freedom of choice. They need freedom from oppression. This lends itself to my very definition of leadership. Leadership is the ability to inspire people into meaningful action because they wanted to do it, not because you told them to do it. And if you tell them to do something, if they feel oppressed, if they feel they don't have a choice, they dig the heels in. This is why micromanagement really works. It strips away the very freedom and trust that people need to thrive. So empowerment and trust comes from the heart of the need for freedom of choice and the freedom from oppression. The next pillar of my leadership philosophy is about being a multiplier, creating the environment where people can do their very best work. When we do this, we're not just leading a team. We're multiplying their potential. I hate to break it to you. I've said this before on the show, but you're a human being, and you're only blessed with 24 hours every single day. But if you're leading a team of seven, well, all of a sudden there's seven people with 24 hours in the day. I hope you're not working them 24 hours a day, by the way, but you get the point. You're going to become a multiplier of impact by bringing people together that have all got different superpowers, different skills, complementary skills, and multiplying the impact that they make on the world. And this ties into deep listening, or generative listening, the work from Otto Sharma, as he described in theory you deep listening goes beyond surface level listening to engage in co creation. When we move beyond level one listening, which is listening just to respond, and we start truly listening. So the four levels of listening, I've shared it on the show before, but to say it again, level one is only listening, so we're waiting to respond. You're waiting for your turn to talk. You're also only listening to the things that confirm what you already believe. Level two, listening is to listen with an open mind, to put aside things that we already believe so that we can allow new thoughts in level three is to listen with an open heart and understand not just the facts and figures of the situation, but the emotion of the situation. And level four, listening is to listen with an open will to imagine a new reality that might be contrary to what you believe before this conversation starts. And now we start co creating. We start co creating something that's the sum of everyone's collective wisdom in the room, and we start creating something that's greater than the sum of the individuals. We create something that none of the individuals could have created alone. So be a multiplier and embrace deep listening. Go beyond just listening to what you want to hear, or listening to things that confirm what you already believe, and start co creating together. The next pillar is about prolific focus, and I talk about the work year of Dr. John Demartini, who, in previous episodes, taught us about the great power of manifestation and the great power in what we say no to. By learning to say no to the things that don't align with our goals, we free ourselves to focus on the things that truly matter. It's the things that we say no to that allow us to do a better job of the things that we say yes to. This kind of focus is essential for leadership and in manifesting your own success in your own journey. And the final pillar in my five. Dollars of my leadership philosophy is about mastering the three dimensions of leadership. As leaders, we need to be thinking about leadership across three dimensions, leading self, leading the team and leading the business. So what does this mean? It means that when we make decisions, we make balanced decisions, balanced decisions that are good for myself, good for the team, and good for the business. What does the opposite look like? The opposite would look like making a decision that's really good for the business but really bad for the people. And we need to remember that we succeed through our people, not at the expense of our people. Another bad example would be where we make a decision that's good for the people, but bad for the long term success of the business. Or the third one is we make a decision that's good for the people, good for the business, but it's at our own expense. So when we're making these decisions, what decision can we make that is good for me, good for the team and good for the business, and to avoid making a decision that's good in one or two of those dimensions, but So the five key pillars of my leadership philosophy, people it's the expense of one of the other dimensions, either the want to be seen. They want to be heard. They want to be valued. self, the team, or the business. And a fourth dimension I'd like They want to feel like they matter, and mattering starts to add is the dimension of time, and this is where we need to with purpose, about embracing empowerment and trust and understanding the need for freedom of choice and freedom make sure that we're not just making decisions that are good from oppression to be a multiplier and create the in the short term, but are not good for the long term, success environment where people can do their very best work in a environment of co creation, prolific focus, and focusing on of the team, the business, or ourselves. So the fourth the things that matter, and saying no to the things that dimension to add is one of time. don't matter,and mastering the three dimensions of leadership, leading self, leading others and leading the business. There are many other leadership lessons I've picked up over time, but most of the map to these five leadership philosophies, whether it's about letting go of things that you can't control and only focusing on the things that are in your control or in your influence, through to things like the platinum rule, moving from the golden rule of treating people the way you want to be treated to treating people the way they want to be treated. All of these can map to my five pillars of leadership philosophy. I also want to leave you with this. Leadership isn't just about achieving goals. It's about who we become along the way. It's about being authentic, empowering others and embracing the journey of progress. The wisdom of the ancient still rings true today. If we lead with purpose, with mindfulness, with authenticity, we can create impact, not just for ourselves, but for the teams and organizations we serve. So have a think about your own leadership philosophy. What are the things that ring true for you? What would you do the same as what I've shared? What would you do differently? I would love to hear from you. What is your leadership philosophy? What do you believe in when it comes to your own leadership in the next episode, you're in for a real treat. I'm going to be joined by former New South Wales Police Minister Carl Scally and former Deputy Commissioner Mark Goodwin. Carl and Mark were at the center the leaders behind the New South Wales Police response to the Cronulla riots that happened 19 years ago. I'm going to be giving them a platform to give us the insiders look of what really happened on that day, including debunking some myths about what happened, and they'll share with us the leadership lessons that they took from what was a very impactful day and weeks and months in their life, around what most people would look at and go, Hey, that's crisis. What does leadership look like in a crisis? What works, what doesn't work, and what do we learn about leadership from an event like that, where you're thrust right into the center of something really crucial that could it's like a tinderbox that could just explode at any moment. You're going to love this episode. You're going to love hearing from Carl and love hearing from Mark. Thank you for listening to The Leadership Project mickspiers.com a huge call out to Faris Sedek for his video editing of all of our video content and to all of the team at TLP. Joan Gozon, Gerald Calibo and my amazing wife Sei Spiers. I could not do this show without you. Don't forget to subscribe to The Leadership Project YouTube channel where we bring you interesting videos each and every week, and you can follow us on social, particularly on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. Now in the meantime, please do take care, look out for each other and join us on this journey, as we learn together and lead together.