Self Leadership and
The New Leadership Playbook
Blog by Andrew Bryant

CEOs are typically driven by pleasing the board. The board is usually pleased with positive quarterly results. These results will only be sustainable if the CEO and their Executive Leadership Team (ELT) effectively lead the people within the organization.

Management guru Peter Drucker said it best when he wrote:

  "The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers." 

This truth highlights that leadership results from a shared psychological group membership (culture) rather than intrinsic to one individual. 

This realization triggers the question, “What is the best culture, and how do we create it?”

Imagine a culture where management and employees experience a feeling of autonomy and ownership, thus contributing their best selves toward a shared vision with clear objectives.

The foundation of such a culture is the practice of self-leadership. Building a culture of self-leadership within an organization is not just a trend; it's a strategic...

There is a fear that AI is a threat to humanity but imagine a world where artificial intelligence (AI) and self-leadership converge, creating a hybrid that revolutionizes how we perceive leadership and technology. This is not a far-fetched sci-fi concept but a potential reality as we explore AI's capabilities and what it means to be fully human (self-leadership). 

Even if you are grappling with understanding and appreciating the benefits of AI, you can guarantee that it will soon be as natural to our children as an iPad is today.

The Genesis: Understanding AI and Self-leadership

Before we delve into the heart of the matter, let's first understand the two key components of our discussion: AI and self-leadership.

“Artificial Intelligence is not just machines, it is Augmented Intelligence, It is a mirror to our human experience and achievement.”

AI is not just about robots and machinery. It's about creating intelligent systems capable of understanding, learning, and...

In the wake of the global pandemic, the world has seen an accelerated shift toward digitalization. This shift has brought about new challenges and opportunities in the realm of productivity.

Increased productivity means greater output from the same amount of input. It means higher efficiency with which a company or economy can transform resources into goods and services. In short:

"Enhanced productivity is the opportunity to create more from less."

A sustainable increase in productivity occurs when individuals and teams can complete their work efficiently and tackle more complexity, whilst taking care of physical and mental health.

As we navigate this new landscape, the concept and practice of self-leadership have emerged as critical factors in enhancing productivity.

The Connection Between Self-Leadership and Productivity

Self-leadership is the learned ability to intentionally influence ourselves to achieve our objectives (Bryant and Kazan 2012). Rather than being an...

This story is so familiar that I am sure you have heard it, experienced it, or are living it. Following success in a previous, project, department, or company, a manager or executive is promoted into a new leadership position and fails.

The premise for the promotion is that if someone is successful at leading one team, they will be successful leading any team, but this assumption is based on a common misconception of what leadership is, and how it works.

You Can't be a Leader without doing Leadership

I had a coaching client who was a brilliant marketer. She was creative and led her team to deliver excellent work for her company. She felt she deserved a promotion and the title of CMO. When this finally came, everything changed. The expanded team resented her, complained that she was absent, and the quality of work from her department suffered.

This CMO had confused being a leader with doing leadership, and she is not alone. Leadership books, posts, and memes focus heavily on the...

Employee engagement has long been a metric of leadership and culture. When employees are engaged, they are emotionally invested in their work and the success of the company. However, low employee engagement results in lower productivity, increased costs, poor customer service, lack of innovation, and decreased employee physical and mental health.

Given this impact, smart CEOs and their Executive Leadership Teams (ELTs) are constantly seeking strategies to boost employee engagement and productivity. One such strategy that has proven effective is the practice of self-leadership.

"Self-leadership is the practice of intentionally influencing your thinking, feeling, and actions toward your objectives." (Bryant and Kazan 2012)

Self-Leadership and Employee Engagement

Self-leadership is not just about leading oneself; it's about setting an example for others to follow. When CEOs and ELTs practice self-leadership, they create a culture that encourages employees to take...

David was in his 30s and had already achieved more than his years in terms of career success. On paper his resume looked great, he had worked hard for a prestigious degree and had been hired by a top-tier consulting company. But David's hands would sweat when he needed to give a presentation or sit for an interview, he had a secret saboteur.

This saboteur was stealthily undermining David's confidence, making him feel miserable, and behaving in inauthentic ways. Eventually, David reached out to me for help, and today he is free of the saboteur and said to me, 

"Thank you for reminding me of who I am"

If you find yourself struggling like David, having your confidence drain away at crucial moments, and not reaching your full potential, then read this post and take a moment to reflect. 

Symptoms of the Saboteur

The secret saboteur operates subtly. Here are some signs that it might be undermining your confidence:

1. Persistent Self-Doubt: An ongoing internal dialogue...

As a professional speaker, I've worked closely with event planners, coordinators, and managers. I've seen first-hand the lengths they go to ensure that each event, be it a small corporate meeting or a large conference, runs smoothly and provides value to all participants.

Even before the pandemic, these individuals were unsung heroes, but their resilience, adaptability, and dedication have been nothing short of awe-inspiring during these challenging times. 

Things are opening up but there are still challenges for these professionals. Today, I want to shine a spotlight on these challenges, to foster understanding and empathy for those in the trenches, navigating the 'new normal'. 

The Rise of Hybrid Events

In the wake of the pandemic, we've seen the birth of hybrid events, One of the toughest aspects of a hybrid event is catering to two fundamentally different audiences: in-person attendees and virtual participants. Each group has distinct needs and...

A CEO's role is akin to the captain of a ship. They are tasked with setting the course and ensuring that the entire crew is working cohesively to reach the destination. This involves transforming a vision or strategy into tangible results - a task that is easier said than done. A vision without execution is just hot air, and it is in the execution phase that many CEOs encounter significant obstacles.

The challenges CEOs face during this transformative process can be multifaceted. They range from clear communication and coordination, navigating conflicting personalities and priorities within their own Executive Leadership Team (ELT), to creating a cohesive culture.

In this article, I aim to delve deeper into these issues and highlight a few examples from industry leaders as well as my own experience as an Executive Leadership Coach and my research on Self-leadership.

1. Communication and Coordination

One of the most crucial elements in executing a vision is clear...

Leadership cannot be summarized in a simple meme, that says leaders do this, and don't do that. Leaders face multiple complex challenges in today's rapidly changing environment. In addition to external challenges, they must navigate the complexities of bringing their own people together to work collaboratively while managing their own physical, social, and mental health.

In this post, I aim to summarize some of the challenges leaders face in 2023 and beyond and offer some insights about what is required and what can be done.

What Keeps C-level Leaders Up at Night?

McKinsey's State of Organizations 2023 report identifies many of the challenges keeping leaders up at night, These include economic volatility, geopolitical instability, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

C-level leaders must address questions about how to organize for speed, the balance between in-person and remote work models, and mental health concerns among employees.

Deloitte's Human Capital Trends...

The Executive Leadership Team (ELT) typically consists of the most senior leaders of a company, often with a CXOs title such as CEO, COO, CFO, CPO, CTO, and CRO. When the ELT works as One Team, the positive impact on culture and performance can be phenomenal, unfortunately, the majority of ELTs aren't even a team, they are a workgroup at best.

The Myth of the Executive Leadership Team

Just because your call it a team doesn't make it a team. A team operates with mutual accountability. Team members work together towards a common goal, tasks are shared, and success depends on collective performance. In a team, leadership is often distributed, and communication is more collaborative.

A workgroup operates with individual accountability. Each member has their specific tasks, and the group's success is the sum of the individual efforts. There is less interdependence compared to a team, and the focus is more on departmental or vertical achievement than collective...