Category Archives: Alumni Articles

The Alt/Indie Leadership Books Review

By Brenda South, MSc in Psychology

Does leadership matter to you? Whether your job requires you to manage people, life success is often about your ability to convince others that they should buy into your idea, vision, product or service. The best leadership advice I ever received came from an older, successful business person who has consistently been supported by a dedicated, loyal and high performing staff:

Their advice: Always hire people smarter than you and then get out of their way. It goes without saying that you must always have their back!

For those of us who learn by doing, not reading, our fantasy leadership book would tell us how we can learn about leadership. This book might contain the following ideas:

  • First, last and always keep learning about yourself. You can’t lead others without knowing who you are!
  • Choose your mentors well and stay with them for many years
  • Be sure to have some amazing bosses and some horrible bosses
  • Coach children’s sports teams
  • Join volunteer boards
  • Seek out tough jobs – and try to have a safety net when you take them!
  • Treat leadership like other deep practices – gather with peers on a regular basis to compare notes, cases and lessons learned. There are only a handful of leadership principles, but you can never stop reflecting on them.
  • Be grateful for your failures and reflect on them over time. The lessons from failure are irreplaceable.
  • Ask for advice early and often from all sorts of people, especially your subordinates

My top five picks for best books on leadership is an admittedly eclectic group. They include:

1. Science of Leadership- Julian Barling

“The Science of Leadership” is evidenced-based, with research from around the world, and includes Barling’s two decades of experience in leadership development with executives. The nature of organizational leadership is examined and whether leaders “matter”. Barling explores whether leadership is “born or made”, as well as the effectiveness of leadership in organizations. He evaluates what can be learned from leadership in sports, the political arena, and schools, and devotes individual chapters to topics that include gender and leadership, destructive leadership, and followership.

2. Leading at a Higher Level – Ken Blanchard

Ken Blanchard’s books are classic best sellers, including “The One Minute Manager”. “Leading at a Higher Level” brings together Blanchard’s best ideas about world-class leadership: ensuring people know who you are, where you’re going, and the values that guide you; creating targets and visions based on the “triple bottom line”. This book includes Blanchard’s breakthrough work on delivering legendary customer service, creating “Raving Fans,” and building “Partnerships for Performance” that empower everyone who works for and with you. It offers up-to-date techniques for leading yourself, individuals, teams, and entire organizations.

3. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Dont – Jim Collins

Though most businesses fail, some succeed. To determine why, Collins examined tens of thousands of publications and interview transcripts. He then conducted a 5 year study of 28 companies, revealing the qualities needed to develop a successful business. “Good to Great” emphasizes the point that success doesn’t happen overnight: progress is a process. For entrepreneurs and leaders who feel frustrated, tired, and out of steam, this book helps reinvigorate drive and passion.

Quote: “Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.”

4. The Leadership Challenge – Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner

In print since 1987, with over 2.5 million copies sold. Based on Kouzes and Posner’s extensive research, this new edition casts their enduring work in context for today’s world, proving that leadership is a relationship that must be nurtured, and most importantly, that it can be learned. Features over 100 case studies and examples, which show The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership in action around the world. Focuses on the toughest organizational challenges leaders face today

5. Start With Why – Simon Sinek

Over 28 million people have watched Simon Sinek’s TED Talk “Start with Why” — the third most popular TED of all time. Sinek proposes that leaders who’ve had the greatest influence in the world all think, act, and communicate the same way. They realize that people won’t truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the WHY behind it. “Start with Why” provides a foundational understanding of what it means to lead with purpose.

Happy Reading!

Articles to Build Your Leadership Skills

By Shaila Nagpal, MSc in Global Health Policy

Is leadership important?  What characterizes an effective leader?  For me, a leader is someone who works towards achieving a collective vision or goal, recognizes value in others’ opinions and/or ideas, and continuously works towards growing on an individual level and as a leader. 

Below are five articles that discuss leadership from different perspectives, dive deeper into the lessons and practices leaders use when engaging with people, and how to develop leadership skills on an individual level.  

1) Financial Times – Minouche Shafik: ‘I don’t have to be the smartest person in the room’ 

By Henry Mance 

LSE Director, Minouche Shafik, discusses reassessing the social contract, her book “What We Owe Each Other”, and overcoming difficulties faced throughout her career. Shafik shares her management style, emphasizing that she doesn’t “have to be the smartest person in the room” and makes a strong effort to listen to fellow colleagues. Shafik’s leadership skills led to her becoming the youngest Vice-President of the World Bank, Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, and now the Director of LSE. 

2) Harvard Business Review – “Don’t Take It Personally” Is Terrible Work Advice 

By Duncan Coombe 

Duncan Coombe comments on the popular saying “don’t take it personally” and how this phrase is not beneficial to use in the workplace. He states that to successfully accomplish career goals and be an influential leader, people need to take things more “personally” in their career. Coombe stresses for your own benefit, and your colleagues’ benefit, to “take all of it personally.”

3) Hive – “Don’t Aim to Be a Perfect Leader – Aim For Conscious Leadership Instead” 

By Anouare Abdou 

In our current era, employees are more conscious of their mental health and how their work environment impacts their mental state. Anouare Abdou discusses the importance of being a conscious leader, with characteristics such as: awareness, authenticity, empathy, and purpose. Abdou highlights beneficial methods to become a conscious leader and how this leadership model creates “sustainable business practices and workplace cultures.”

4) Icons & Innovators – “Warren Buffett Says Your Overall Leadership Success Really Comes Down to 2 Simple Strategies”

By Marcel Schwantes

During a time when Xerox was struggling greatly, the CEO, Anne Mulcahy, sought advice from Warren Buffet.  He provided her two pieces of advice: “focus on your customers and lead your people as though their lives depended on your success.” Marcel Schwantes examines these two key points, suggesting that while customer satisfaction is the overall goal to keep a business running, what is lost at times is ensuring your employees are satisfied first.

5) Times Magazine – “Time 100 Most Influential People 2022” 

The infamous Times list of the most influential people of 2022 features Simu Liu, Zendaya, Issa Rae, Volodymr Zelensky, Tim Cook, and many more. The article breaks down these influencers into sections such as: artists, innovators, titans, leaders, icons, and pioneers. Each piece provides an insight into the work they have accomplished and what inspires them to achieve such success. 

An Alum’s Top Networking Tips

By Greg Sullivan, LLM 2004

Do you hate networking?  Some of my friends do, because they see networking as a necessary evil, like going to the dentist.  I think networking suffers from an image problem.  Perhaps this is a carry-over from the go-go 90s, when people networked aggressively, thrusting business cards into the “target’s” hand.

If you are a successful networker, it’s because you see networking as relationship building.  It’s give and take, where you are adding value to the conversation.  Perhaps you identify an industry trend, or provide information about an interesting new software app.  Maybe you give encouragement as the person grapples with a work problem.  Think of what you can offer the person.

Here are my top tips for success in networking, which I re-imagine as relationship building.

1. Be yourself.  If you’re an extrovert, you usually are a good networker because you enjoy people.  If you’re an introvert, you can still ace networking because you don’t like talking about yourself.  You typically listen and ask questions.  That is excellence in networking!

2. Prepare a witty, generic introduction.  “Hi, I’m Greg Sullivan.  My Mum would want me to tell you that I’m a lawyer, which is true, but instead of a traditional practice, I help other lawyers leverage technology and project management processes to better serve their clients.”

3. Ditch the sales pitch.  You want to make a connection, not a sale.  Listen and ask questions.

4. Ask easy but interesting questions.  What are the person’s passions, hobbies, interests?  This person has a life beyond work.

5. Don’t hijack the conversation.  Remember to ask the person about themself; don’t make it all about you.

6. Ask for advice, not a job.  If you are job searching, do not ask the person if they are aware of any openings. Instead, ask for advice.  “I am interested in x industry.  Can you suggest how I might break into the field?  Do you know anyone who might be able to give me additional insights into the field?”

7. Follow-up.  You have a maximum of 48 hours to follow-up; after that, the person has forgotten you.  Mention something specific about the conversation that you enjoyed.  If you can forward an interesting article, even better.

8. Leverage our LSE community.  Our alumni community in Canada is filled with interesting people from all walks of life.  Take the opportunity to attend alumni events – virtual or live — and test out some of the suggestions above!

Good luck! 

About the Author
Greg Sullivan, LLM 2004
Partner, Deloitte Canada 
Past Vice-Chair, LSE Global Alumni Association; Past President, CFLSE

Leadership: what does it mean to you?

What does leadership mean to LSE alumni? Here are just a few thoughts.
 

Collaborative leadership models, not hierarchies

Anson Au, MSc Social Research Methods, 2016

Leadership is seen as the ability of a person or organization to guide others. In the age of Trump, Brexit, and the global rise of the Far-right, we are seemingly confronted by a crisis of leadership. Why have leaders bent on dividing societies gained power in the recent past? The answer suggests it isn’t a lack of poor or trusted leaders that confronts us. Trump is no less a trusted leader than Clinton – he’s just trusted and revered by supporters hailing from a different part of the political spectrum. Rather, the problem lies in the way leadership itself is structured.

Leadership shouldn’t be top-down. In organizations, hierarchical distributions of authority have resulted in poor distributions of knowledge, which, in turn, anticipates uninformed decisions capable of collapsing entire companies. Like organizational leadership, political leadership achieves the best results when it adopts more collaborative strategies. It should facilitate the democratic exchange of knowledge and spread out authority in ways that allow for these exchanges. Nelson Mandela’s legacy offers a wonderful example to observe and emulate. More than motivating or shoring up support among a restricted part of the population, he pursued a leadership structure that was inherently collaborative – reaching across ethnic, racial, gender, national boundaries, and even to the very parties responsible for putting him in prison, to successfully build something bigger than himself.

Political Leadership: A matter of respect

Matthew Klassen, MSc International Relations (Research), 2016

Debates on leadership are often oriented around skills possessed or lacked. However, as Mr. Trump has revealed, leadership is much more about attitude. In the world of policy and politics, the distinguishing characteristic of effective leadership is a respect for “the office”. Respect for one’s office is about respect for the legislation, people or panel that vested the responsibilities of that office in that leader. This attitude and deference to legacy, continuity, voters, and to a constitution or bill is what separates the leaders I admire from Mr. Trump.

I have the pleasure of working at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario every day, and as part of my job have met with former premiers, as well as independent officers and commissioners of the Legislative Assembly. When each of these leaders elaborates on their role and attitude, they speak to the duties of their office, rather than their successes as an individual. This is perhaps most evident in a leader I have come to admire, Ontario’s Speaker, the Honourable Dave Levac. Mr. Levac, who retires at the end of this legislative session, is the longest serving speaker in the province’s history. I know this is a characteristic shared by many speakers in Westminster-style systems. This deference to office allows for effective decision making, commands respect, and helps to maintain a lasting legacy of responsible government. This is leadership that I admire.

Leadership Values? Listen First. Speak Second

Jeffrey Dvorkin, MPhil, International History, 1970-1974

In the film “Spotlight”, Liev Schreiber plays Marty Baron, editor of the Boston Globe. I’ve met Marty a few times, and I sense that Schreiber has him exactly right.

“Spotlight” is about a team of investigative reporters looking into accusations of sexual abuse by some members of the Catholic clergy in Boston. According to the film, very few people in that city and in that newsroom dared to uncover what had been a well-kept and widely held secret for many years.

What Baron/Schreiber conveyed was the most important reportorial and leadership quality – the ability to listen carefully and fully to what people are saying. Eye contact is a good indicator as well.

My best bosses were the ones who – like Baron – avoided jargon – especially techno-jargon and spoke directly to the issues before us. Jargon in the news business as in most other endeavors, is usually a way of covering up for a lack of knowledge. It is in effect a form of corporate bluster and insecurity.

Angela Merkel: A leader to admire

Thomas F. Chambers, MSc (ECON) 1965

Leadership is a strange thing. Some leaders you respect, others you despise. The only leader I admire is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She is strong, believes in the European Union and is the only leader who can keep the Union together after the departure of Britain.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping are strong leaders. They have gained control of their governments, have no opposition at home, face weak leadership abroad, and are militarily ready for the future. The only leader who would try to oppose them, and provide leadership in a crisis is U.S. President Donald Trump. However, to do so would result in consequences beyond his control. He is a far weaker leader than he realizes.

The world may face a crisis because of North Korea’s Kim Jong-un’s threat to send a nuclear missile to the United States and Mr. Trump’s threatened response. A war between the two would soon involve much of Asia. China, not wanting such a conflagration, would prevent Mr. Kim from acting. Therefore, China would provide leadership where it is needed.

There are crises in Africa and the Middle East. Most of the leaders in these areas are autocrats, uninterested in peaceful solutions to their problems. Fighting in the Middle East has been well documented but the opposite is the case in Africa where many wars are being fought. Ethnic conflict has affected millions, many of whom are seeking refuge in peaceful countries.