Leading in Unprecedented Times

By Alexandra Friedman

We are living in unprecedented times. As the pandemic settles down, business leaders are taking extraordinary measures to maintain the strength and reputation of their organizations. Creative leadership strategies are required, and often this means experimenting and innovating. As Apple co-founder Steve Jobs said, "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."

In a 2019 article in Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, Wojciech Dyduch observed the vital importance of leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs "concentrating on new idea generation as a source of value creation matters and framing the creativity into the strategic sequence," noting the imperative "to look for new ideas."

With so much unknown, leaders must develop an innovative — and sound — leadership strategy to shape their response, and their organization's performance, in the future.

Take Value-Driven Actions

Leaders must make pragmatic decisions and facilitate practical actions founded on their organization's core values in an uncertain future. Now, more than ever is the time for you to focus on your mission — a driving force that can lead and inspire during the toughest of times. As Graham Kenny wrote in his article "Don't Mistake Execution for Strategy" for Harvard Business Review, "Strategy design operates at the organization level. Strategy execution operates at the individual level."

Keeping your sense of purpose front and center enables you to take sound risks. It's not an oxymoron. "Sound risks" are bets that acknowledge uncertainty while honoring your expertise. Sticking with the status quo, you forgo the future.

Remember: Small steps are better than no steps. Work in stints and sprints, but give your organization — and yourself — permission to take breaks. A modest move forward is still a move forward.

Inspire Through Empathy

Listen to your employees. It avoids the buildup of stress and friction. Demonstrating empathy — putting yourself in someone else’s shoes — inspires others to take actions beyond their capabilities, which can lead to hard, tangible results in a time of crisis.

“Leading isn’t for the fearful,” Nancy Duarte recently wrote in MIT Sloan Management Review. “How you show up and how you communicate can dissipate anxiety and help your team be more connected to the purpose of your company and one another.”

Make time for sharing stories, Duarte recommends, and use question sessions as a way to build those company connections. Frequent dialogues with your teams build trust and a collaborative spirit, especially if those dialogues are borne out of a shared understanding of organizational values — and a commitment to proactivity. "Yes, these are challenging times," you might say, "but here is what we can do." Leaders can keep their teams engaged and united if there's a clear line of communication and an open door — even if it's an open door on Zoom.

Lean On Personal And Professional Networks

We trust the wisdom of others to guide us through difficult times, moments of chaos, or disruption. We read the works of philosophers, poets, and thinkers who have helped humanity make sense of the most perilous eras of existence. In today’s age of intellectual abundance of webinars and podcasts, live streams and videos, yesterday's minds or today's innovators are only a click away.

Leading through turbulence also means leaning on your networks. Reach out to mentors. Seek counsel from those you admire, from those who've taught you. Listen to their war stories — they’ve been in the trenches and can offer crucial perspectives.

Recalibrating your leadership strategy during these challenging times requires flexibility, ingenuity, and courage. By undertaking value-driven actions with a clear head and ideas nurtured by the most trusted parties in your network, leaders will emerge from these unprecedented times with a clear sense of purpose.

Changing How We Change

The pandemic has transformed all aspects of our life — from how we work to how we dream. It’s not surprising that change and its strategic counterpart innovation are two of the most dominant topics in global business. Companies and organizations that tout their ability to shift or pivot, to be nimble in the face of disruption, do so in the name of growth, competitive advantage, and success.

Yet, creating a culture that inspires change and innovation is difficult. In today’s uncertain times, creating change is like swimming against the current while anchored to the bottom of the ocean. But chasing innovation without understanding the psychology of change is a recipe for disaster. In a recent article for MIT’s Sloan Management Review, Hunsaker, Etenon, and Knowles wrote: “As operating environments become more dynamic, both the benefits and risks of change become amplified.”

Leaders must understand the complexity of change to transform aspirations into actionable principles. With that understanding, they can better implement the necessary tools, processes, and strategies that will allow them to create organizational innovation.

Change is Difficult

Whether you’re an organization approaching obsolescence (recall Blockbuster) or an individual breaking another New Year’s resolution, change is hard. Neuroscience and evolutionary psychology point to the following three key reasons.

Our Brains Form Habits

First thing every day, most people check their phones and email. This is a habit. Good and bad habits are based on electrical activity in a part of the brain called the striatum. As Johns Hopkin's Albert Huang put it, the striatum is “the heart of decision-making, the part where we do or fail to do something based on the calculations within our brain.” In other words, our habits — those inflexible, automatic, unchanging behaviors — are hardwired into us.

Our Brains are Busier than Ever

In an article that appeared in the Guardian, neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin blames our affinity for multitasking for brain overload, and frankly, our addiction to social media and technology isn’t doing us any cognitive favors. Countless studies detail multitasking’s adverse effects on brain performance, but Stanford’s Russ Poldrack research speaks directly to why busy brains are more resistant to change. Change, which takes risks and forges new neural pathways, is a form of learning. Poldrack found that “learning information while multitasking causes the new information to go to the wrong part of the brain.” Without distractions, “the information goes into the hippocampus, where it is organized and categorized in a variety of ways, making it easier to retrieve.”

Our Brains are Slackers 

Our brains, bombarded with stimuli, have evolved to make sense of the chaos. They’ve developed neural shortcuts and intuitions — think pattern recognition or confirmation bias — called heuristics by Psychology Today. While heuristics may help us detect potential threats or develop useful hunches, they can also pose rigid barriers to embracing the new. Take confirmation bias, where, as Kahneman put it, “you have an interpretation, and you adopt it, and then, top-down, you force everything to fit that interpretation.”

Changing How We Change 

To promote and practice innovation, we need to change how we change. “Change can involve magnitude, activity, or direction,” according to Hunsaker, Ettenson, and Knowles. The first step toward fruitful innovation is understanding what kind of change is organizationally appropriate.

To break our brains of their default habits, incorporate collaboration into your company’s decision-making process. Collect anonymous contributions with polling apps or index cards to encourage participants to get creative.

Bringing together diverse constituents is another way to circumvent our brain’s resistance to change. At your next brainstorming meeting, organize breakout groups composed of team members from different units or locations to generate new perspectives. 

Get involved in team meetings and team bonding sessions. Showing up as a supportive and approachable leader will engender positive morale and a spirit of trust. It will also help when you need to offer constructive feedback. When team members feel respected and heard, a productive exchange of ideas is possible.

Finally, model passionate communication. Your enthusiasm for change is contagious. When you embody a spirit of change, others will emulate you and get on board for new initiatives. As a leader, you set the tone for the work of today and a vision of tomorrow.

Commit To Change

To innovate in a way that results in lasting impact, business leaders must understand the obstacles to change and commit to fostering an environment that promotes collaboration, flexibility, and thinking outside the box.

The Big Reset — Rethinking Customer Engagement

COVID-19 wreaked havoc on an international scale, altering the global economy and upending financial markets. Investment managers know the next normal is right around the corner, and they're working double-time to respond to the tumult of today and devise strategies for tomorrow. And while the big reset may mean revamping business continuity, workforce management, and financial viability, redefining customer engagement will take precedence above all organizational issues.

Recalibrating customer engagement is one of the most immediate challenges investment management firms face in the age of the pandemic. More and more client interactions will take place in digital environments. As the pandemic's effects reverberate, with social distancing guidelines lingering and clients' desires for in-person communication changing, customer engagement paradigms will shift. The restrictiveness of face-to-face meetings--infrequent and in the office--will give way to flexible, digital alternatives.

Those alternatives must be suited to high-touch communication. Managers must embrace new technologies and more frequent interactions when apprising their investors of the pandemic's effect on the markets. Whether it's detailing current portfolio strategies or demonstrating their firm's resilience, managers must stay connected to their clients. Quality communication is paramount to building trust.

Maintaining trust was important for managing a crisis like COVID-19, but that trust must be reinforced to thrive in the next normal. Relationships matter more than transactions in investment management, and investment managers who go the extra mile to augment their communication with investors will catch the eye of new clients.

What will this look like? Investment managers will need to embrace new tools that support client engagement. They'll need to routinize communication. They'll need to set concrete goals rather than offer hazy guarantees. Utilizing model portfolios is one option. Investment managers will spend more time cultivating their relationships with clients and less time overseeing individual assets. A greater range of products more widely available will enable investment management firms to soar.

Shifting policies and procedures to meet clients' changing needs will keep investment management firms from missing prime valuations. Nimble is the name of the game. Firms with an infrastructure for digital meetings and communication will accommodate their clients and grow through the crisis.

In a 2018 article in the MIT Sloan Management Review, Chief Digital Officer at J.D. Power, Bernardo Rodriguez cautioned, "Digital transformation initiatives implemented with a focus on technology - not the customer - may succeed in improving the efficiency of legacy processes, but they do not necessarily create new value." For example, Investment firms can outpace their competitors and keep their clients' trust by developing future-proof customer engagement.

Leadership in a Digital World

Digital technologies have long been poised to usher in widespread change across organizations. But with the onset of the pandemic, whatever specter of digital disruption was looming beneath the surface of the business environment has fully emerged. The pandemic has catalyzed an unprecedented—and unstoppable—digital takeover. 

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that one-third of all employees can work remotely. Now, across organizations, employees are confronting new technologies, new protocols, and new initiatives—not to mention new, virtual workplaces. With digital natives and technophobes alike forced to adapt, leaders need to rethink their management styles. Leadership, in step with our rapidly-evolving times, needs to transform. 

Today’s leader needs digital fluency. Fluency denotes gracefulness and ease and is crucial in leading a largely remote workforce. Video meetings, webinars, live streams: these “cool mediums” require individuals to recalibrate their self-presentation. The flurry of articles on how to best light yourself on a Zoom conference says it all: Adjustments need to be made when our work lives play out on screen. Of course, this extends beyond the visual. Leaders need to present qualities that motivate people in their organizations to drive change and inspire extraordinary results. 

Clear communication of your leadership vision and direction to your teams is key to inspiring those extraordinary results. It’s the execution of sound strategy that allows organizations to transform. “Transformation,” as Thomas H. Davenport and Thomas C. Redman recently noted in Harvard Business Review, “requires an end-to-end mindset … the ability to manage across silos going forward.” Inviting other perspectives from those silos will fall short without a well-articulated sense of purpose and effective communication tools.

Most importantly, today’s leader must be adaptable and fluid–in other words, change-oriented. And change requires flexibility. Nimbleness. A sense of experimentation. Today's leaders manage with agility and are open to new technologies and digital realities. They’re aware of developing technological trends and understand their potential for value: they don’t discount automation wholesale. As a result, these leaders will take ownership of the digital transformation, empowering their organizations to boldly pursue their shared long- and short-term goals. 

How must leadership transform in the new digital reality we enter? As Robert Frost said, “Freedom lies in being bold.” Leaders must not be mired in nostalgia or bureaucracy. Digitally fluent, purposefully communicating, and change-driven, leaders today must become adaptable and collaborative, evolving to thrive in the next tomorrow. 

Strategizing a Moving Target

The most recent crisis of COVID-19 upended operations as we know them; Pierre Wack called the future “a moving target.” In this seminal Harvard Business Review essay, Wack emphasized the need to “accept uncertainty, try to understand it, and make it part of our reasoning. Uncertainty today is not just an occasional, temporary deviation from reasonable predictability; it is a basic structural feature of the business environment.” 

How do we build a solid strategy in precarious times? Leaders must ask this as they look past the chaos of the present. 

Forecasting has never been easy. In an era of heightened uncertainty, it may be tempting to focus on surviving the present moment; and neglecting backup plans.  But the difference between being reactive and proactive is what distinguishes agile, opportunity-seizing leaders from those attached to the status quo––at the cost of the future. With scenario planning, they can prepare for that future with creativity, strategy, and foresight. 

How does it work? Scenario planning entails: determining factors that will impact the upcoming market and operating conditions; assessing the relational interactions between those factors; hypothesizing realistic futures; rethinking current systems based on those futures; and adjusting current processes to ready companies for anything the future might bring. 

Used routinely, scenario planning can help leaders meaningfully bridge today’s imperative with the potential of tomorrow. Here’s how to get started: 

Assemble a Diverse and Dexterous Team

Scenario planning requires participants with different strengths: people who are strong perceivers, actors, and thinkers. Find people with diverse experiences and bring them together to think creatively and conceptually.

Articulate Objectives and Assumptions

Spell out your organization’s objectives, and identify the present-day strategy, unpacking any underlying assumptions. Describe the projected future that will result from the current scenario. Identify forces you can control––and those you cannot. How might those forces influence various futures? 

Visualize Multiple Futures and Occupy Them

Imagine a worst-case, best-case, and middle-case scenario for your organization. Envision what each of those scenarios would look like across five, ten, or twenty years. Put the world of today behind you to imagine the reality those tomorrows might hold. Get creative (but stay grounded). 

Single Out Multiuse Strategies  

With each fully fleshed-out future scenario, ask your teams: What could we change today to let us accel in the hypothetical tomorrow? Encourage all ideas. Look for themes to strategize plans and investments that will support a number of futures.

 As the pandemic has shown, plans can shift in an instant. Strategizing the future requires regular reassessment. But by institutionalizing scenario planning, leaders can focus on keeping the flux at bay and preparing to seize future opportunities.  

Saying “No” for a Better “Yes”

"Everyone is always asking me for something," said "Elizabeth," one of my clients. As a newly promoted partner in her firm, she noticed herself fielding requests on all fronts. The inflow of asks was staggering over Zoom or in person. She began to realize that many of her problems could be traced to her saying "yes," when she wanted to yell "no."

Elizabeth's experience is far from unusual. These days, requests come from everyone: bosses, colleagues, clients, and subordinates. It's not surprising that executives like her are overwhelmed--precisely when being overwhelmed isn't an option. "The urge to overachieve," as one writer in The New York Times recently put it, "is exacerbated in times of crisis because every decision feels critical."

 When you're overwhelmed by multiple demands on your time and attention, it becomes more challenging to say no. Saying no can be uncomfortable. It means confronting disappointment, accepting limitations, and potentially missing out on significant opportunities. Yet, if you overextend yourself, you run the risk of wasting valuable time and resources and compromising your performance. Today's overworked leaders need a roadmap for managing requests. The health of their careers and their professional lives depends on it. It boils down to how to responsibly say yes and no with confidence.

Understand The Request

The first step in fielding any request is to know precisely what is being asked. A thoughtful leader needs to consider the potential risks and benefits. I encourage clients to keep a log of all requests that require significant time and resource commitments. This log should include the date, the request, who is doing the asking when the deliverable is required, the needed resources and logistics, how it supports short- and long-term objectives, and, of course, the political implications. Be sure to acknowledge any biases or obligations attached to these relationships. Researchers from Columbia University observed that when "people seek unnecessary relational repairs, they may ironically forge deals that forego value for both parties." Finally, include a cost-benefit analysis of the Ask. What will be the benefits of pursuing this project? What will be the costs--obvious and not-so-obvious?

Say "No”—But Make It a Good "No"

With all the information gathered in the request log, a leader can determine whether to move forward. The first consideration requires an honest assessment of ability and availability. Or, if the request isn't feasible or does not align with goals, it's time to say "No." A good no is the product of logical thinking. A thoughtful, well-reasoned no avoids wasted resources and hurt feelings. A harsh no can be off-putting, and avoidance or ambiguity can exacerbate feelings of frustration.

What makes a good no? Concision is a piece of it: "No" can be a complete answer. Once a leader knows they can't take on a project, they need to step aside. It's all right to say: "Thank you for asking, but this is outside my purview." And when useful contacts or resources are available, share them. Saying no the right way can be the difference between strengthening or destroying a relationship.

Say “Yes”—with Intention

When a leader answers no, it opens the doors to a greater yes. When a request is in harmony with a leader's priorities, values, and organizational goals, the right answer is almost always apparent. A smart yes means being clear about one's strengths and expertise. If a project is executed successfully and confidently, it will be mutually beneficial. Once you say "yes," it's time to develop a focused plan for execution.

Once Elizabeth began evaluating Asks in a request log, it became easier for her to respond with an enthusiastic "yes" and a deliberate "no." Because of her due diligence, colleagues and clients came to respect her more—valuing her judgment and opinions. Recently, she said, "Saying no is never easy, but it's been rewarding."

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome as an Emerging Leader

Recently, one of my clients received a promotion. She couldn’t have been better equipped for the job as a high-performance executive in her organization. Yet when she told me the news, she sounded hesitant: “Right place, right time,” she said, later asking, “Who am I to be managing a team?” 

As an executive coach, I recognize this behavior in many of my clients: feeling like a fraud, recounting how they “bluffed” their way through a board meeting, shrugging off their success. Like many driven perfectionists, they’re experiencing impostor syndrome, the struggle to internalize and accept their accomplishments, always doubting their deservedness and abilities. In a Harvard Business Review article exploring impostor syndrome, Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries calls it “the flip side of giftedness” and notes it “causes many talented, hardworking, and capable leaders […] to believe that they don’t deserve their success.” 

Impostor syndrome affects people in all stages of their education and careers, but Kets de Vries observes the problem runs rampant in C-suite, managerial or leadership positions. “Often, a leader’s feelings of self-doubt and anxiety are less pressing when he is lower on the totem pole[…]. But once a leader becomes the CEO, everything he does is highly visible. He is expected to stand on his own.” 

The costs of impostor syndrome extend beyond the individual. An organization feels the effects when a leader suffers from impostor syndrome at the helm. The procrastination, perfectionism, over-preparation, self-sabotage, and self-censoring that characterize impostor syndrome can deplete time and resources and, most adversely, employee morale.

Fortunately, leaders can combat impostor syndrome — in themselves and their teams — by actively revamping their organizational culture. Here are three ways leaders can help their high-performing teams learn, develop and excel while overcoming fear and uncertainty:

Strategize Vulnerability 

MIT’s Sloan Management Review posits that “vulnerability, the willingness to fail and to do so openly, should be a core competency for many leaders.” Saul Kaplan, founder and “chief catalyst” of BIF-5’s Collaborative Innovation Summit, believes “innovation requires a vulnerability most people are not comfortable with.” Leaders need to make vulnerability a part of their organization’s strategy to transform the culture that breeds impostor syndrome.

Vulnerability from leadership opens the channels of communication in employees, inviting greater transparency and connection in turn. But fostering empathy and building authenticity is only the beginning. To truly operationalize vulnerability, it needs to be paired with vision. 

What does this mean? Leaders should have difficult conversations — messily, emotionally — but offer solutions. Show that when uncertainty or duress strikes, it doesn’t have to result in panic or despair. 

Promote Problem-Solving

Encouraging a team to figure out the solutions to the problems they’re up against is more than just effective delegation: It’s proof that the leader believes in their skill and acumen. But it’s not the stamp of approval that eradicates impostor syndrome. When employees tackle challenges, their sense of validity — and mastery — will grow. 

As Valerie Young, author of The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women, shared with Time, “The only difference between someone who experiences impostor syndrome and someone who does not is how they respond to challenges.” Entrusting employees with challenges in the first place will reinforce their confidence: They’re up to the job.

Make Questions Commonplace 

Inviting questions is imperative in combating the perfectionism that gives way to impostor syndrome. Dr. Brené Brown calls perfectionism “‘the 20-ton shield.” We carry it around, thinking it’s going to protect us from being hurt. But it protects us from being seen.” 

Questions help us put down those 20-ton shields and everything they’re defending. Leaders must create a culture of learning where asking questions is the norm, where a gap in knowledge invites collaboration and sharing — rather than withdrawal and shame.  

How do influential leaders do this? They’re confident answering a question with “I don’t know” — and are just as confident when they share how they’ll discover the answer. They build teams composed of people with complementary skills, fostering mini-learning scenarios. They conclude meetings with a mandatory round of questions from all attendees. And they thank employees who are willing to ask the most pressing and challenging questions. 

Leaders managing high-talented teams are likely to encounter impostor syndrome, but by encouraging questions, utilizing vulnerability and prioritizing problem-solving, they can ensure team morale remains strong­ — and help their employees feel the success they deserve.

Five Mistakes to Avoid as an Entrepreneur

Everyone makes mistakes along the path of success, particularly in the journey of entrepreneurship.  While some mistakes can be great teachers, others can be detrimental in helping you move your business forward.  Here are five common pitfalls to avoid:

1.  If You Start a Business, You're in Sales

Most entrepreneurs see themselves as innovators and bosses, but they must also be savvy in sales to survive.  Whether you're pitching your business to investors, courting a potential partner, or presenting a prototype, you are selling something to someone.  A quality product and service will not sell itself.  Though, with the right strategy and support, most entrepreneurs (yes, even those who dread selling) can acquire the necessary skills and strategies to grow their business.

2.  Putting Too Much Faith in a Formula

While business owners certainly should use formulas to determine profitability, there is more to owning a business than just plugging in the numbers. There is no place in a formula for working late into the night or making a good impression on a potential client. Being a successful entrepreneur requires personal investments that can't be mathematically expressed.  Entrepreneurship is both an art and a science.

3.  Failing to Invest in Branding and Identity

First-time entrepreneurs can make the mistake of investing too little in marketing and brand identity.  Brand equity is a company's most valuable asset—and it is much more than just a logo or a website—it tells your story, builds value, and sets you apart from the competition.  When creating your brand, it is critical to focus on how to establish an emotional connection between the benefits of your products and services and your target audience and how to positively influence your customer’s experience at every touchpoint.

4.  Setting Rock-Bottom Prices

Success depends on pricing your products correctly.  Startup owners often feel that they have to undersell larger competitors to entice new customers, but it can be a deterrent. According to The Journal of Consumer Research, many consumers associate low price with poor quality.  Don't just focus on price; instead, focus on the value your product or service will provide to your customers.  Some questions to consider when determining your pricing strategy are:  Who is your ideal customer?  What are your costs?  Who is your competition?  What are the market trends?  What are your revenue goals?

5.  Underestimating the Length of the Journey

Most businesses are not overnight successes.  There are no shortcuts.  Accomplished entrepreneurs ensure they have enough resources and support for the long haul. Entrepreneurship is about the survival of the fittest. There are countless examples of companies that did not make a dollar for years.  For example, Jeff Bezos did not turn a profit with Amazon for nine years. One of the most valuable tools to run the distance is to join a community of like-minded entrepreneurs.  Being in a group of like-minded people can provide you with inspiration, knowledge, and emotional support.    

The Secret Ingredient to Success: Maintaining Relationships

Most people equate success with status: holding a respected position in their industry and acquiring the material comforts that go along with it. We think of all the time and energy that we’ve invested in getting a promotion — or, for that matter, running a marathon. But success is more about the “who” than the “what.” Whether you’re the founder of a start-up or a Fortune 500 executive, success is a product of developing strong relationships.

According to a meta-analysis from the World Values Survey, social capital is positively correlated with “physical health and subjective well-being.” According to Rob Cross in this Harvard Business Review article, “Flourishing in your career depends as much on your relationships, both in and out of work, as it does on your job itself.”

Think about the number of people who have directly influenced you.

Your mentors, bosses, peers, clients, friends, and family have helped you make decisions, shifted your mindset, shaped your values and affected the way you see yourself. The sum total of their contributions has made an indelible impression on you.

Then think of those people who have indirectly impacted you — who keep the wheels turning: assistants, office managers, baristas, and casual acquaintances. It takes a village to succeed. Consider the team of people required to put together a conference or another event, virtual or in-person. Booking speakers, sending out invitations, partnering with affiliates: None of it would be possible without supportive relationships.

It is not surprising, then, that relationships are the cornerstone of professional success. As Douglas A. Ready of the MIT Sloan School of Management writes in this article, “Mastering personal relationships that build trust and create a collaborative work environment is central to leadership effectiveness in the digital economy.” As our workforce becomes increasingly digital and decentralized, focusing on mastering relationships is more important than ever.

Why are relationships so important? 

For one, they serve as the foundation of effective teams. You feel inspired when you trust and respect the people you work with. And inspired teams to produce creative solutions efficiently, leading to superior results for stakeholders and clients. Forging supportive relationships also makes it easier to create an inclusive workplace.

In work environments where relationships are prioritized, collaboration feels natural, and employees more readily take advantage of opportunities for growth and development. Finally, emphasizing relationships helps businesses, and their employees, contribute to their communities. Whether that means leading civic initiatives or participating in industry-specific events (i.e., conferences, publications), conducting business with a focus on relationships ensures that people come first.

Mastering relationships takes work. 

According to Darin Rowell, Founder of FrontierX.Global, strong relationships have three traits:

• clear purpose

• defined expectations

• shared commitment

As Rowell writes in the Harvard Business Review, “Powerful leaders use [these traits] to cultivate powerful relationships. But doing so takes intentionality and repetition.” Rowell encourages people to take stock of how they schedule their time — and whom they spend that time with. If you are an average of the five people you most associate with, you will want to cultivate those relationships deliberately.

A quick self-assessment will help you evaluate the strength of your relationships. Ask yourself:

• Have you and your colleague discussed and decided on the purpose of your relationship? Is that purpose clear? 

• What are the expectations of the relationship? Is it transactional, interdependent, or transformational?

• How will you make decisions? How will you facilitate buy-in from both parties?

• What is the preferred mode of communication? How will you ensure ongoing open dialogue?

• How will you resolve problems? Can you agree to disagree on issues?

• How does commitment function in the relationship? Are commitments honored with unspoken or formal agreements?

In answering these questions, you can gain insight into how to behave intentionally in your relationships. When this consciousness drives your actions, you will earn a reputation for being a person that others want to work and connect with: You will go farther than you ever would on your own. Few of us can make it alone.

How to Cultivate Your Leadership Style

Transitioning into a leadership role presents several challenges. One of the key issues is that companies rarely offer the requisite education and support to ensure a smooth transition. I have worked with clients who feel ill-equipped for their new positions despite their skill sets and proven track record. Often, the knowledge that served them in their previous roles does not prepare them for the unique challenges of leadership.

When it comes to leadership, style counts more than substance. It makes sense. Consider Antonakis, Fenley, and Liechti’s findings on the importance of learning charisma. In Harvard Business Review, the researchers revealed how charisma outweighs “good presentation skills, such as speech structure, clear enunciation, speech tempo, and speaker comfort” in the perception of leadership.

And leadership style is all about actions and behavior: what you do, how often, and when. Unlike personality, which is hardwired into us, workplace behavior can be modified, and style is mutable. Fortunately, leadership style can be developed.

To do so, it’s important to understand social markers. As sociolinguist Howard Giles found, social markers are the verbal and nonverbal behaviors that we use to express ourselves, especially our myriad social dimensions (i.e., gender, socioeconomic status, age, class, etc.). Social markers are the signals we send to others, shaping how they perceive us. In the workplace, markers that convey status — and by extension, leadership — fall into two categories: powerful and attractive:

Powerful Attractive

Formal Casual

Detached Engaged

Stoic Animated

Leans backward Leans forward

Controlled movements Natural movements

Outspoken Diplomatic

Loud voice Modulated voice

Sophisticated jargon Everyday language

Unapologetic interruptions Focused listening

Declarations Questions

Most of us have a go-to leadership style consisting of a default set of markers. In layman’s terms, we lean one way or another toward powerful or attractive. All leadership styles fall somewhere on the spectrum. A blended style incorporates a balance of powerful and attractive markers. According to Peterson, Abramson, and Stutman’s work in Harvard Business Review, it’s key to exceptional presence. Blended is what top leaders aim for. By practicing these techniques, any leader can develop a more effective style.

Check Your Mirror 

Or your webcam. Professional athletes review game footage to hone their skills, and aspiring executives can do something similar. If you want to achieve a balance of powerful and attractive markers, you will need to conduct an honest self-assessment. Keep a list of markers on hand and review the recording from a recent meeting — a hidden perk of our online work lives. Check the behaviors you see yourself engaging in as you review the footage and tally them up to assess your style. Don’t be afraid to solicit feedback from others. Consult trusted colleagues, asking them to share their insights on your style.

Change Your Markers 

Once you have identified where your style is on the spectrum, start incorporating different markers to shift yourself toward a blended ideal. If you lean powerful, add attractive markers; if you lean too much toward attractive, add powerful markers. Ease the transition by choosing one verbal and one nonverbal marker. Don’t worry about landing on the “right” combination of markers: There isn’t one. Choose actions that feel natural to you and practice incorporating them into your interactions. If you’re nervous, rehearse with a friend or a coach. Feel free to experiment with different markers at different times. While initially uncomfortable, trying on these different hats is necessary. We all do it. The best leaders demonstrate their authenticity and presence in their ability to pick and choose the best behaviors for the context.

Read Your Cues 

My clients often ask me when to incorporate powerful versus attractive markers. Intuitively, they understand that some situations call for a softer approach than others. And they’re right: Reading the cues, or the table or screen, is essential in honing your leadership style. In most cases, it’s best to gauge the markers you’re observing from others before committing to your approach. For example, while it may seem counterintuitive, executives should use attractive markers with their subordinates and powerful markers with their superiors. Engendering trust requires, in one case, flexing compassion and, in the other, competence.

Leadership style is a crucial ingredient for success. Leaders can effectively steer their organizations with style and substance by cultivating a blended approach.