Fearless Leaders Are Adventurous.
The Five Pillars of Fearless Leadership are BRAVE: B for Bold; R for Respectful; A for Adventurous; V for Valiant; and E for Empathetic.
Today we are focusing on ADVENTUROUS.
Adventurous leaders take risks. This behavior is super important for moving teams and organizations towards success. These leaders will be the first ones to test the waters of change, and they do it with gusto. They spur others on to follow, making bold choices and are unafraid to fall down and get up again, at which point the person and team is stronger than before. Adventurous leaders make boldness seem natural, and fun, and failure just a part of the process. Adventurous leaders think out of the box. How many times have you seen a leader, or yourself for that matter, take the same old road to get to the destination? This is not only boring for everyone involved but it can breed laziness and lack of creativity. Adventurous leaders value creativity and ideas other than their own. In fact, they live for it!
Why do you think so many people don’t take risks today? Could it be that their leader is set in their ways and discourages any behavior of ideas that is not tried and true? Let’s think for a moment about all the innovations in our world that would not have come to fruition if the leader didn’t take the road less travelled and encouraged their team to do the same. Whatever you think about these people, they are examples of Adventurous Leaders and have changed our world as we know it: Meg Whitman, Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk. Maybe you are one too.
Sandy’s ADVENTUROUS leadership tips:
· Don’t rest on your laurels – keep pressing ahead for new learnings and opportunities for yourself. This will model behavior for your team. Success won’t continue if you hold on to it tightly.
· Use laughter frequently with your team – don’t be afraid to use joy in the workplace and show your own humanity.
· Elicit crazy ideas from your team – and then accept them. “No” is not an effective way to create an adventurous environment and a leader must walk the talk.
· Show with your own experience that making a mistake is part of the creative process. Discuss failures openly and dissect them thoroughly in a positive way.
· Play with this: ask your team members to come up with one idea in a strategy session that they think won’t work but sounds interesting. You’ll be amazed the opportunities that come from this.
· Have your team members encourage each other’s adventurous and risk-taking moves by being generous in their praise and support of the other.
Get out there and be an ADVENTUROUS Leader.
Sandy Heydt is former c-suite marketing executive with a background as a counseling psychologist. She is an organizational start-up and turnaround specialist, working with business owners and investors worldwide, including human space flight, flying car companies, and luxury hotels. Skilled at maximizing human potential, she is a leadership coach and speaker who focuses on leading with humanity. You can reach her at sandy@heydt.co.