Name: Redesigning Leadership
Rating: 4 (54 reviews)
Author: John Maeda

What’s in it for me? Learn how to become the best leader you can be.

Nowadays a manager, CEO or head of an organization can run everything without ever leaving the comfort of their office chair, managing by the click of a mouse. You’re only as slow as your broadband.

But while the logistics of being the boss are undoubtedly easier in the modern world, that doesn’t automatically make us better leaders. In fact, in our rush to use technology we have lost the personal, human touch required to get the most from our employees.

And if you want to inspire those employees as a real person rather than a management borg, you have to go further: the key to respect lies not in your job title, but in your dedication to your principles. These blinks are a guide to being an approachable, in-touch boss who gets things done.

In these blinks you’ll learn

why the best leaders get out of their offices and get their hands dirty;
why you need to attract wannacomes to your meetings; and
why Obama had to apologize to an art history professor.

Creative and successful leaders manage by being mobile.

How often do you see the head of your department walking around the workplace? Rare occurrence? Department heads usually stay in their offices unless they have to come out to lead meetings.

That means they don’t connect with their employees very much – they just keep in touch through periodic meetings and reports. But you’ll never truly understand your business and how it can be improved until you form strong connections with the people you work with. You need to get out of your office and interact with the people under you. In other words, you need to manage by walking around.

The author did this when he first got his post as the president of Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). He wanted to know everything about the school, so he left the office and got to know the people in the departments around him. He brought them food and even helped the new students carry their luggage when they moved in, among other things.

This style of personal management doesn’t mean taking over other people’s jobs, however. If you get too invested in working right alongside your employees, you might end up accidentally taking someone’s work from them, or making all the important decisions yourself, so your team members have nothing to do but the menial tasks. That will make them feel useless, as they won’t be contributing much to the team. Leaders need to lead, after all!

A manager has to find the balance between working with their employees and giving them their space.

Communicate clearly and give your messages a personal touch.

Leaders have a variety of ways to communicate with their teams nowadays. If you can’t meet your team in person you can always connect with them on Skype or by email. We can communicate with more people over wider distances, but this also presents problems. As a leader, how do you ensure that your team members fully understand the messages you’re sending out?

There are many strategies for clear communication, but the best is to use examples to back up your points.

Get your team members together regularly in short and efficient meetings.

Imagine your company has just created a product and they need to assemble a new team to manufacture, market and sell it. You’ve just been appointed leader. What’s the next step?

The first step to making people feel like they’re part of a team is to get them all together in the same room. Teams don’t feel especially real when they’re first formed, but when the team members actually meet they’ll start feeling like they’re part of a group. After all, they’re united because they’re working toward the same goal.

Take the time to earn your team’s respect.

As you might imagine, a great leader needs a great team. So you need a team that supports you, but how do you earn their support?

Great leaders always truly respect the people they’re working with. The best leaders usually go out of their way to show their staff that they appreciate them.

Key ideas in Redesigning Leadership

What is Redesigning Leadership about?

Redesigning Leadership (2011) takes the jargon out of management and replaces it with a human touch. Being a great leader means taking to the shop (or office) floor, making contact with your employees and – most importantly – keeping their focus and respect. The author offers simple ways to be a manager who retains their principles – and heart.