9 Leadership Tips from a young ‘unapologetically ambitious’ CEO.
(excerpts from LinkedIn Conversation with Anjali Sud CEO of Vimeo) Could not help sharing very valid perspectives (my take only)
Here are her 9 tips to Leaders
1. Need to know why
you want to lead. Anjali always knew from a young age that she wanted to be leader.
She had explicit conversations with supervisors, some of which didn’t go well.
Instead of relying on managers, she put the onus on herself.
Need to be comfortable with talking about career. Some people are; Some are not – especially women. Need to break this stigma & celebrate people who want more from their careers
2. One doesn’t need formal authority to lead. Leadership isn’t just moving up the career ladder,
3. It’s possible to lead without having formal leadership role.
One can be useful & helpful to other functions beyond one’s job in an informal way from early on in your career.
She implies this is done spontaneously- more to learn and GIVE rather than to GET.
Best leaders & CEOs don’t rely on formal authority. They win trust, inspire and empower people.
One can develop leadership as a skill set early in career by influencing people & building relationships.
Leadership is empowering people to do their best work and driving positive results.
Helping people gives a lot of informal credibility & practice in leadership.
5. Effectively deliver on
feedback in a way that is helpful and positive is a key component of leadership.
4. It is critical to be good at the job you have & job you want. Protect your performance . Develop a reputation internally of being good at the job.
Bring in excellent #talent & empower them to do more.
Job of leadership is to set a Vision , set Expectations and allocate Resources.
6. Leaders who make it to the top need to change their mindset from that of a ‘doer’ to that of an ‘enabler’
7. Leaders need to surround themselves with excellent people, including ones who disagree with them.
Learn to trust more and build experts better than you. Take on board people who bring perspectives you may not agree with. You can’t grow without empowering those around you.
People should be comfortable to call you out when you’re wrong.
8. Bring everyone along with you by being simple and consistent in messaging.
The more power you wield, the more accountable you need to be.
Things like documenting & having everything in one portal is vital.
9. Be aware of one’s blind spots & look to create a culture of transparency in the organization.
As you move up, people are likely to become less honest with you.
If there’s something you didn’t do well or if they disagreed, they may remain silent.
It’s a leader’s job to make it comfortable for others to call you out when you’re wrong, Remember you may not have all the information. And, it may be too late to take action when red flags show up.
In today’s world of
machine intelligence, emotional intelligence has taken on paramount importance.
Empathy and understanding are required not only for innovation and growth, but also to identify a higer standard – the Human Standard (loved this perspective)
Do share you views I the comments.

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