04 Nov Leadership in the Land of Google

I received this link today from Tana Heminsley (we work together at ViRTUS).  Tana has a passion for Authentic Leadership and so she sent me this video of Bill George, speaking about Authentic Leadership at Google.  He interviewed 125 of the top leaders alive today to find out what is at the core of their leadership strength.  It’s almost an hour long so you may want to fire up your email at the same time.

(Update Nov 9. 2008) A few people let me know that they are suffering from information overload and another hour long video wasn't helping, so here are the top five learnings about what you can do to develop yourself as a leader from the video above:

1. leadership is about internal development and introspection (self-awareness) not how you create a perception for the public
2. know your values and what's really important to you
3. it's the sweet spot at the intersection of your greatest strengths and your greatest motivation.  If you're not sure what your top five strengths are then take the Strength Finder 2.0 assessment
4. find a support team and mentors who you can be totally honest with and who can be totally honest with you
5. lead an integrated life by being the same person in all areas of my life (authenticity)

Bill shared a story from the CEO of Avon as well with the lesson to follow your compass not your clock - life is long so focus on doing the right things according to your values instead of sacrificing your values for fear of missing out a career shortcut.