International speaker, podcasting guru and leadership provocateur Dov Baron has been described as the scariest/kindest person you’ll ever meet. When you speak with Dov, you get this powerful combination of absolute no BS straight talk combined with a feeling that he is 100% in your corner. This conversation was one of my personal favourites. (You can watch the replay here.) Here are my Top 3 takeaways:
1) Your Purpose is Behind Your Pain
How clear are you on your purpose? This is a big question and one that Dov helps individuals (and organizations) wrestle to the ground by giving you one simple, powerful question to ask yourself: what did I need when I was a child that I didn’t get enough of? Our core purpose is hidden behind our pain. This isn’t the kind of question that delivers a quick and easy answer. This is the kind of question to think about, meditate on, journal around. Purpose emerges through reflection. Once you’ve defined your core purpose you can begin to live your life in proper alignment. And as leaders, when we are aligned to our core purpose, we can create that same focus within our teams.
2) Your A Players are About to Crash
The pandemic has caused work and life to bleed together more than ever before and A players are about to get hit with post-pandemic trauma. Top performers have been muscling through on adrenalin, but subconsciously they are hitting walls. As the New York Times recently reported, the YOLO Economy is coming. With cash in hand, your best and brightest are about to walk away and join the gig economy. Leaders need to be proactive about checking in with key performers and proactively managing workloads because too many people simply aren’t speaking up. And, if you count yourself in this “about to burnout” category, you need to start to make self-care an extreme priority. The tsunami of mental health issues is on its way and we all need to get proactive about getting our own oxygen masks on first.
3) Success Needs a Reframe
The American dream has lost its way. With the hollowing out of the middle class and the massive inequity in wealth distribution, we need to move forward with a new type of capitalism: conscious compassionate capitalism. To shift the mindset around results and profit at all costs will take a new type of leadership: one centred around curiosity, courage and community. We need to get curious about new ways of working and then have the courage to speak up and take action. To do this, we need to build communities of support to shift collective mindsets and behaviours. Shifting our priorities to creating purpose-driven organizations is what will ultimately win the hearts and minds of future employees who are asking more and more: does this work honour my soul?
This was a rich, wide-ranging conversation and I didn’t even get to ask Dov about “full Monty leadership!” To learn more about Dov, visit his website, check out his Leadership & Loyalty podcast and be sure to pick up his books Fiercely Loyal and One Red Thread. I promise you, you’ll be inspired.
Next up, I’ll be talking to my friend and colleague Angela Champ on her new book The Squiggly Line Career. Register here.
And, if you’re interested in joining a community of leaders committed to connecting to their purpose and making a bigger impact, check out our signature program – The Roundtable for Leaders. We have two groups launching in the Fall and Winter of 2021/22. If you are interested in joining the wait list for our upcoming open enrolment, you can apply here.
PS – Don’t forgot to grab a copy of my new book The Grassroots Leadership Revolution to get tips on managing your career and building a network of support
Happy leading!
Glain
