The Leadership Mistake Almost Everyone Makes (Adam Grant)
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello and welcome to Doing It Anyway, the show where we rethink challenges, build our confidence and learn how to do it anyway. Today, I'm talking with Professor Adam Grant. He's one of the world's leading experts on the psychology of success, leadership and human potential. We had a broad conversation and touched on many areas of both being a boss and being an employee. We talked about the hippo effect. I'd never heard of that. which is a syndrome where the highest paid person in any meeting can quietly kill good ideas and get their opinion across before everybody else does. We talked about how to give feedback that is actually useful. We talked about why people pleasing. might stop you from getting promoted and how self-doubt could actually be a useful tool for success.
And here's a counterintuitive one. We discussed why procrastination, something I am very guilty of, might actually boost creativity. Here's Adam Grant. This episode is presented by Vanguard. When it comes to investing, many of us feel totally out of our depth, and we just don't know where to start. And we can't be blamed for that. A lot of us simply don't have the time or the confidence to take the first steps. And that's where Vanguard can help. With their managed ISA, Vanguard's experts do the hard work for you. They'll match you to an investment plan that feels right for you, and then they'll handle the rest. No second guessing, just smart professional management. So stop wondering how to start investing and start making your money work harder.
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You've obviously spent decades studying what makes a good leader. And for people who've gone through the toil of slaving away at the pit face of things and now have the rewards of leadership. Describe the best characteristics of a boss. Who are the people who manage to get the best out of the people that they are managing? What does it take?
Ooh, well, how many hours do you have, Katty?
Oh, a few.
Okay, good. Well, I'm going to say I'm looking for basically two things. I'm looking for character and competence. And I think the competence part is talked about all the time. We need someone who can exercise good judgment and make smart decisions. We need somebody who can do vision and strategy, somebody who can resolve conflict and align people. I don't think we talk enough about the character aspects. I don't think we talk enough about the importance of leaders embodying generosity, humility, and integrity. And when I think about those character strengths, those are the qualities that allow leaders to say, my mission is more important than my ego, which is sadly more rare than I would like to admit in leadership.
How do you balance the idea in that character component of looking for people who are cheerleaders of their group, who encourage people, who praise people, who tell people they're doing well and give them a sense of promise, and somebody who is also prepared to say the tough stuff, who is prepared to be your critic? Does one person need to embody both of those? Do you need leaders in an organization, some of whom are critics and some of whom are more on the praising cheerleader side of things? How do you see that?
This is a conversation I have with my own teams when I have to lead, which I try not to do whenever I can avoid it.
You're a very good leader. I've seen you do it. No self-deprecating.
No, it's much easier to study it than it is to live it. So I think that what I've learned to say to my teams is, look, there are moments when our natural impulse is to be a cheerleader or a critic. And when you're cheerleading, you're basically applauding the best version of someone. When you're criticizing, you're attacking the worst version of someone. But what I've always benefited the most from and what I want to be for you is a coach. I think a coach is somebody who sees a better version of you and helps you realize your potential. And in order to do that, sometimes I'm going to have to tell you things that don't feel good today, but allow you to grow tomorrow.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:09–10:13
2
How does Adam Grant define the ideal qualities of an effective boss?
10:13–24:45
3
What coaching techniques make feedback more actionable and motivating?
24:45–30:29
4
How can leaders run meetings to reduce the HIPPO/Babel effect?
30:29–45:25
Speakers
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