In part four of the Leading and Learning Webinar series, Rama Gheerawo explains how recognising and using creativity and empathy can help you become a more effective leader
Gheerawo has worked across the globe to support businesses in creating and sustaining creative leadership. He says the first step is looking at who we believe can be a leader and how we encourage them into leadership positions to ensure we have the right ingredients in place.
“We’re not giving everyone an opportunity to lead and we are not seeking talent in the right place - we are not allowing those empaths to come forward, those thoughtful people,” he says. “There are many people out there who have not been evolved into the full leadership capability because we are told leadership only comes from a certain ‘type’ [of person]”.
Even if you did recruit for more diversity in leadership positions, he says, another issue is that creativity can come across as too ethereal to be measured or taught as a learnable skill. In reality, he believes we can define creative leadership succinctly.
“There are three values that define creative leadership,” he explains. “The first is empathy, the second is creativity and the third is clarity.
“Each by themselves is not enough. If you only have empathy you might be a pushover. If you only have creativity, then you might be a bicycle with no chain, furiously peddling away but not getting anywhere, where you just innovate with no idea why. And if you only have clarity, you would be some form of dictator with no empathy.”
Host Paul Spiers, founder of The New P&L, also quizzes Gheerawo on how we guard against the unintended negative consequences of trying to be an empathetic and creative leader.
You can watch the webinar below, but if the webinar is not visible, you can access it here.
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