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 Don’t – 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!

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. 

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