“If you love something give it away.” That’s how Itay Talgam, a conductor himself, philosopher and consultant quotes his friend Peter to describe the laissez-fair leadership style of one of his conductor colleagues. Linking the video here and highly recommend watching it - not only to reflect on different leadership styles but also on life in general, plus it’s very entertaining :-)
“If you love something give it away.” How hard is that? I think that’s crazy hard. Because loving something usually means that you’ve spent a whole lot of time with it, that you put a ton of effort into it and that you feel 100% responsible for it. Now this guy suggests to give it away? Probably not top of mind for any leader. Thinking about it twice it does make a whole lot of sense: If you want others to love it as much as you do - aka put as much work, effort, tears, sweat, heart, care and responsibility into it - you’ve got to let them own it.
With my students I brainstormed what is needed to “do without doing” as Itay also describes this leadership style. As obvious as the answer “trust” is, as hard it is for many us to find it and to make it the basis of their empowerment.
Last month I started teaching Leadership at Pforzheim University as part of their HR Management curriculum. I’m very grateful to work with future HR leaders who are eager to learn and for the impact we have together. What makes my heart jump even higher is that we can learn together across continents and timezones and that these limitless opportunities reflect the future of work and our zeitgeist to the fullest: the way we learn and develop ourselves impacts how we lead and drive change for others. Better be in synch!
I will share some leadership nuggets from my lecture here in the coming weeks. Hope they hold something for you! Enjoy!