Effective leadership demands ongoing learning. Invest in yourself (and your team!) with actionable insights from 6 highly successful C-Suite leaders!
Mahatma Gandhi said “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” This inspiring mantra led me to teach again this fall at New York University's Integrated Marketing Master’s Program “The C-Suite Perspective,” a course that deep dives into the role of C-Suite leadership and how competing demands shape an organization.
While I am the “educator” in this scenario, I had the opportunity to learn a great deal from the well-respected thought leaders from Chief that I invited to speak to the students. Each guest shared their unique perspective and experiences, and we covered a variety of topics, from delegation to character to navigating a crisis. Knowledge is meant to be shared, so I’ve chosen one nugget of wisdom from each of them to highlight. I am confident you’ll get as much value from their insights as my students and I did.
When the worst happens, good crisis leaders dive in personally
I was thrilled that Cindy Machles agreed to speak with my class. Cindy is the co-founder and CEO of Glue Advertising and Public Relations, an industry-disrupting agency that strives to be more innovative, nimble, and accountable than the traditional big agency model. Glue has been recognized as a top 20 New York agency since 2017 and is a top digital agency globally.
Cindy’s advice about crisis management is what stood out to me. She has seen firsthand the mistakes that many CEOs make, such as preparing for a potential situation before it begins, crafting a response “just in case,” and then putting it on the shelf. Unfortunately, pre-packaged plans go stale quickly, leaving the organization - and its leadership - in the lurch. Cindy shared that the most effective crisis leaders are those who dive knee-deep into crisis management, actively participating in the process and maintaining an acute awareness of the crisis plan. She explained that “if [the organization doesn’t] control their image, other people will.” C-Suite leaders who proactively help shape, understand, and safeguard the company's narrative are more likely to navigate rough waters successfully.
Sometimes leadership is a performance
Meryl Draper is the co-founder and CEO of video advertising agency Quirk Creative, a massively successful firm that appeared as #3 on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2021. When Meryl started Quirk at age 25, she was often underestimated and told she “didn’t look like a CEO.”
Meryl explained that there is “a certain amount of theater” in being a leader and that psychological tricks can be the smoke and mirrors necessary to project the right image (even to yourself!) Generally, she will walk into a room as one of the youngest people there, and it’s majority older men. She said she likes “to think about it in terms of a theater experience; it's all a big game. And I kind of get a kick of asking, ‘How difficult is this going to be? Can I have fun with that? What story am I telling?’” Moreover, positive self-talk can transform the way a leader carries themselves and speaks to their audience - along with a great outfit that you feel confident wearing.
Her analogy highlights the performative nature of leadership, where the narrative a leader conveys becomes a crucial aspect of their impact.
Start with cultural understanding as a global leader
I was honored to have highly-lauded and award-winning Namrata Sarmah, Chief Product Officer at a Higher Education company, and Founder of Women in Product UK & CPO Track join us from London.
During our conversation, Namrata expressed her delight at the significant presence of international students in the classroom. An international student who studied in India and the UK, she connected her personal journey to her subsequent success as a global leader. Namrata currently leads employees in the US, the UK, China, and Vietnam, and has worked with teams in Israel, Russia, Scandinavia, Europe, and Australia. The key to successfully guiding a dispersed workforce, she said, is understanding that leadership that works in one area of the world won’t necessarily work in another. “What works for my team in the UK won’t work for a team in say, Latin America.” It may sound “simple,” yet challenging to achieve successfully on a global scale. It is crucial to invest in learning and understanding each country’s individual cultural nuances and market needs. Namrata says that all leaders must adapt to a culture’s way of living and working.
Grateful leaders are ethical leaders
The brilliant Allie Nava brought a philosophical perspective to her conversation with the students. An award-winning executive and writer for multiple decades, Allie built, led, and successfully scaled new organizations, teams, and initiatives from the ground up at publicly traded companies like Amazon (AWS), Dun & Bradstreet, and Regeneron.
Allie delivered an enlightening discourse to the class, focusing on the pivotal role of character in effective leadership. She shared advice inspired by Marcus Aurelius’ pivotal Meditations, encouraging these aspiring leaders to lead with gratitude and humility. Despite wielding unparalleled power as the leader of Rome, Marcus Aurelius refrained from abusing his authority, consistently striving to make morally sound decisions. His views on ethical leadership have guided generations. Allie’s emphasis on the significance of gratitude as the parent of all virtues added a profound dimension to the discussion, leaving the class with a timeless reminder of the essential qualities that underpin successful and moral leadership. As Aurelius himself said, “Live out your life in truth and justice, tolerant of those who are neither true nor just.”
Empathy takes effort
IBM executive Rashmi Gupta has been leading teams, and creating innovative, data-driven solutions for over 25 years. She was formerly a proud recruit of Obama’s HHS Entrepreneur program and served at the Centers for Disease Control as Chief Data Architect to solve the nation’s most critical challenges in healthcare.
We covered a lot of ground during her talk, however, it was Rashmi’s insights on empathy that made a big impact. She currently oversees a team of over 200 employees, so how does she display empathy to a group that large? She advocates for small, yet meaningful acts of gratitude and courtesy, emphasizing the need for a personal touch, such as handwritten cards and phone calls. Rashmi underscored the significance of fostering regular individual and group meetings, and creating weekly connections between employees and their managers, especially vital in a remote work setting where visual cues are limited. “Face time” is vital in truly understanding the personal aspects of employees' lives, and Rashmi suggests monthly leadership team meetings and collective celebrations to cultivate a more connective culture. By delving into events like non-profit donation days or Pride Month celebrations, she demonstrated how empathy can go beyond professional realms, allowing leaders to understand individuals from their unique personal perspectives.
Delegation creates strong relationships
Valerie Trapunsky founded virtual assisting company ChatterBoss in 2017 where she now serves as CEO, after a decade spent working as a top-level assistant for A-list celebrities and as the Chief of Staff for high-net-worth individuals and CEOs. She is also the author of Delegation Nation and a leading expert on delegation and remote teams.
True to her passion, Valerie delivered a vibrant message on the importance of delegation in the early stages of one's career and its perpetual significance. She likened delegation to a muscle that requires regular flexing, acknowledging that perfection in this skill may be elusive. Akin to everything else, delegation is a continuous process crucial for starting and leading businesses successfully, underscoring the impossibility of achieving goals in isolation. Delegation serves as the pathway to turning visions into reality, aligning people around shared goals. Valerie emphasized it as a fundamental leadership skill - and I agree! Effective delegation enables strong bonds between leaders and those entrusted with delegated tasks, as the individuals doing the work feel a profound connection to the delegator.
As your leadership journey continues, I encourage you to dig deeper into the topics you find most relevant. To quote John Wooden, “The most effective leaders are those who realize it’s what you learn after you know it all that counts most.”