Self Leadership and
The New Leadership Playbook
Blog by Andrew Bryant

In the 1996 Movie, Jerry Maguire, the titular slick sports agent played by Tom Cruise has a crisis of conscience, he pens a heartfelt company-wide memo that promptly gets him fired. 

Jerry Maguire provides an example that speaking up at work can be a career-limiting move, and taking an unpopular public stance can result in being attacked or canceled,  but if we don't speak the consequences can be just as devastating.

When we keep quiet or don't speak the truth, we are out of integrity. Integrity goes beyond mere honesty. It encompasses the consistency between one's thoughts, words, and actions. Individuals with integrity not only speak the truth but also live their lives in alignment with it. 

When you practice self-leadership and live with integrity people know that you are trustworthy and accountable. You will have gravitas which is the cornerstone of Executive Presence, which in turn provides you with Influence Capital.

“Living with integrity...

The leader-employee gap is not new but as the workplace is transforming and employee expectations have changed, its impact can be more readily seen in misalignment reduced productivity, diminished engagement, and The Great Resignation.

Bridging the leadership-employee gap is crucial for fostering a thriving work environment, maximizing human capital potential, and delivering accelerated results, yet many managers and leaders struggle to acknowledge or address this issue. Fearing a lack of control and not trusting their employees to take ownership and responsibility can transform the gap into a chasm.

Leadership Styles and the Leader-Employee Gap

Way back in the 1950s, Douglas McGregor proposed Theory X and Theory Y. These two theories contrast assumptions about human nature and their impact on leadership styles.

1. Theory X: Theory X assumes that employees inherently dislike work and will avoid it if possible. It suggests that individuals are primarily motivated by...

"You can't lead others unless you first lead yourself"

Whether you are a leader, of managers, professionals, or salespeople, understanding and practicing self-leadership will increase effectiveness, and collaboration, and help you to scale.

I was recently interviewed by Wendy Weiss on her podcast  Salesology®: Conversations with Sales Leaders where I shared how to build self-leadership and insights from my latest work, The New Leadership Playbook.

You can listen by clicking the image.

Leadership for Sales Leaders

In the world of sales, leadership plays a pivotal role in driving success and achieving business objectives. While most discussions on leadership focus on leading others, there is an equally vital aspect that often goes unnoticed—self-leadership. Sales leaders who possess self-leadership skills have the ability to inspire and empower their teams, drive innovation, and consistently achieve outstanding results. In this blog post, we'll delve into the...

Whatever your field of expertise Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to impact you, in the near future, if it hasn't already. To put it bluntly, you will either learn to use AI tools or your work will be replaced by them.

A mindset shift that will help you to embrace AI, is to see it as Augmented Intelligence rather than the more ominous Artificial Intelligence. With this mindset, AI tools can help you take charge of your personal and professional life like never before.

In the context of self-leadership, AI tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT can play a significant role in nurturing your self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-learning. These are key components of self-leadership and fundamental in setting personal goals, decision-making, and problem-solving.

AI and Self-Awareness

One of the first principles of self-leadership is self-awareness - understanding one's emotions, strengths, weaknesses, values, and goals (Bryant & Kazan 2012).

ChatGPT and Bard, with...

The problem with leadership development is that everybody will agree that it is essential but nobody wants to admit that it's their leadership that needs developing!

Imagine if dentists approached you in the street and said, "Your teeth need fixing", you would likely be highly offended and unlikely to book an appointment. Dentists wait until you are in pain and come to them.

Chiropractors are more proactive in marketing their solutions. You will find them in shopping centers with two bathroom scales, offering a free health assessment. When you see that you are not balanced they offer you a package of adjustments.

In companies, the realization that leadership is 'out of balance' comes in the form of an engagement survey, from a great resignation, or loss of market share.

A New Approach to Leadership Development

As we emerge from a forced experiment in hybrid and remote work, it is essential to rethink the practice of leadership when employees have made it abundantly clear, through...

Effective Leadership has always required embracing ambiguity but today's leaders must face new nuances that are fueled by digital society's collective behavior and opinion. Cancel culture has emerged as a force that can threaten and undermine leadership effectiveness by creating an environment of fear and intolerance of mistakes.

As a response to perceived injustice, cancel culture can hold leaders accountable for their actions. However, when misapplied, it also has the potential to stifle ownership, reason, and learning.

A firm grasp on self-leadership can act as a powerful antidote to this. By developing their self-leadership skills, leaders can navigate the stormy seas of cancel culture, effectively manage their reputation, and maintain their integrity, even under the most intense public scrutiny.

Cancel Culture: A Double-Edged Sword

Cancel culture is a modern form of ostracism where an individual, often a public figure, is thrust out of social or professional circles...

I imagine you like to laugh, but how do you feel about being laughed at?

We will all be laughed at by others for something, at some time, whether that is for our actions, our words, or our beliefs. Rather than 'going postal', we usually laugh it off and get on with our day, but it is my experience that even the calmest people have a sensitive spot that doesn't respond well to ridicule.

Can You Take a Joke?

I am English by Birth and married to a Brazilian. Just this sentence often evokes laughter, because the cultural differences are so obvious. When we first met, my wife expressed a Brazilian idea:

"It's better to lose the friend than lose the joke".

This means that nothing is out of bounds and in today's PC Culture where people are easily offended, this is a radical concept.

I bravely accepted the challenge but was unprepared for the realization of the number of 'sensitive spots' that I was carrying, and the challenge to my self-image when these were pointed out. This post would...

A great speech is memorable, think Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream", or Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you?" but if you are not a King or a Kennedy, what can you do to make a great speech?

"Not everyone wants to be a professional speaker,
but everyone needs to speak professionally."

 The opportunity to speak and share with an audience is a great honor, regardless of whether you are paid or not, and in my opinion, should be approached with reverence.

Having been speaking on stages around the world for nearly 25 years and being the President of two professional speaking associations, Singapore, and Spain, let me share some insights from the client's perspective.

Being a Great Speaker from the Client's Perspective

Every speech has an audience, and most speeches have a client. The client varies depending on the context, it might be a senior executive who wants you to land a message, or it's the company that booked you, but if you are paid to speak,...

"But who are you?" 

This was not the question I was expecting as I was chatting with the CEO of a Speakers Bureau that I was interested in being represented by.

Typically, the conversation is about areas of expertise, experience, and audience outcomes, but this interview was going in a different direction and I was intrigued.

Being a Compelling Speaker

A compelling speaker connects to the audience with their own authenticity, storytelling, and humanity. The audience has to think and feel, "Yes, that's me too".

I was born in 1961 and so I shall shortly be version 6.2 of myself, as I thought about the CEO's question I realized that:

"I am more than the sum of my experiences, I am the sum of my reflections on those experiences, and the choices I have made as a result of those reflections."

I think I started researching, writing, and speaking about self-leadership because it was I who needed to develop my self-awareness, self-management, and self-learning.

It has been my...

It is not uncommon for personal and professional success to be elusive. People describe being stuck, being overwhelmed, or facing a block when trying to scale themselves and their teams.

When locked into a pattern, it is natural to blame everything from circumstances to other people. Blaming, complaining, and a victim mindset can exact a terrible toll, but then comes an epiphany,

"What if it's me?"

It is a truism that you can't effectively lead others unless you first lead yourself, which is one of the reasons that in 2012 I wrote, 'Self Leadership - How to Become a More Successful, Efficient and Effective Leader from the Inside Out". 

Healthy self-leadership is evidenced by results such as these,

"Self-leadership has produced results I had no idea were possible. I have grown enormously as an executive: my relations with my managers and staff are far more harmonious; I have been able to coach my team through significant personal development."   -  Grant...