“If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favourable”.

Seneca

 

Leadership: less is more.

We all do it. Whether cooking for a dinner party, managing an engineering project, penning an article, or writing a business strategy, we all have a tendency to add, rather than subtract things. A study of 1,585 people across 8 different experiments showed that our brains tend to default to addition, rather than subtraction when it comes to finding solutions. In many cases, it seems we just don’t consider the strategy of taking something away at all. Instead, when people solve problems, they typically first think “what can we add to make it better?”. Researchers found that this preference for adding was noticeable in three scenarios in particular: when people were under higher cognitive load, when there was less time to consider the other options, and when volunteers didn’t get a specific reminder that subtracting was an option.

A thought for leaders: It’s easier to add than subtract. Additive ideas come to mind quickly and easily. Subtractive ones take more effort. So mostly, we don’t even think of subtraction at all. But when we overlook subtraction, we can miss better solutions (think of the balance bike, which removed the pedals, instead of adding stabilisers). Or we help create a world of overburden and overload. Where more always feels better. Think of meetings, reports and workflows. Where in your organisation, do you see this? And how can you embrace the power of subtraction to make a real difference?

 

Culture: radiators and drains.

In 1962, John Steinbeck wrote, in Travels with Charley, “Strange how one person can saturate a room with vitality, with excitement. Then there are others… who can drain off energy and joy, can suck pleasure dry and get no sustenance from it. Such people spread a grayness in the air about them.” Simple, but timeless. In a recent interview Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said “One thing that you look for in people and you try to be, is an energy giver, not an energy taker. And so when you’re in a situation of pressure, how do you give people energy? Well, being calm and showing them a way to do something as a team and as a group—that enables you to make progress”. Energy is enablement. Which reminds us of the old but wonderful phrase originally penned by Julian Fellowes, where he refers to people as either radiators, or drains. You’ve experienced both probably. But success and joy, depends on one. Not the other.

A thought for leaders: As a leader, are you an energy giver, or taker? A radiator, or a drain? Importantly, do you surround yourself with and enable a company to be filled with, radiators? It’s not a binary thing, you either are, or you aren’t. Being a radiator is something we do. Not something we are. So as a leader, not only can you chose to be a radiator, but you can also inspire your team to choose to be radiators too.

 

Culture: tough talkers vs strong leaders.

The past 5 years has had more tough talking leaders than the past few decades. So, unsurprisingly, tough and aggressive leadership is trending globally. The tough talking styles of Musk and Trump, who discarded DEI, empathy and human centred thinking, in favour of command and control toughness, are rubbing off. Partly it’s a macho thing, but partly, in a world of chaos, it’s fear of losing control. The result is whip cracking, and a war for talent, becoming a war on talent. But here’s the thing. Strong empathetic, human centred, leaders like Satya Nadella and Tim Cook, achieve more. And tough-leader personas aren’t effective or sustainable for long-term results. Tough-talking leaders fail to appreciate that trust and reliability build results. Strong leaders get it, and plan accordingly.

A thought for leaders: Tough talking leaders see human centred empathic leadership as weak. But Strong Leaders know it’s a key strength, and here’s five reasons why:

1. They know that empathy doesn’t = nice → it’s about understanding & communication.

2. They’re both demanding & supportive → it’s not soft on goals, but help to achieve them.

3. They build trust by being dependable → a keystone of a high performance culture.

4. They focus on what’s best for teams → knowing one size doesn’t fit all.

5. They allow themselves and others to be fallible → so it doesn’t kill innovation.

Podcast: Ep 71: Confessions of a Guru – Part 4: Calmest Person in the Boat

You can listen to it here.

Enjoy revisiting or newly discovering it 😊

You can follow Flow Group on LinkedIn here.

Hope you enjoyed, and please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

P.S. This month’s featured artist is Nick Prideaux. He’s an Australian photographer based in Paris. His latest body of work, Grace Land, is a deeply personal and poetic photo series: a meditation on memory, grief, sibling-hood and the lived reality of climate disaster.