What makes a leader great? That’s what we asked leaders of four of the world’s biggest and best-known companies in this mini episode of the Being Human Is Good For Business podcast.
What makes a leader great? That’s what we asked leaders of four of the world’s biggest and best-known companies in this mini episode of the Being Human Is Good For Business podcast.
Despite their different backgrounds and industry sectors, these leaders all agree on the essentials of a great leader: empathy, listening, clear communication, patience, and robust dialogue.
For Gary Cohen, the CEO of Qualitor, being decisive is a key leadership skill needed to set a vision and execute a strategy to achieve it, but good leaders also need to hone softer skills, such as listening and empathy, to support their teams in achieving that vision.
Mary Riley, Vice President of Litigation at Genentech, agrees that empathy is an important element of great leadership. She also feels that clear communication is key to making great teamwork possible, by ensuring everyone on the team understands what the expectations are.
Paul Johnson, former President of International Brake Industries, tells us that patience is an important element of empathetic leadership, knowing when to step in and take the reins and when to hold back.
For Vidhu Dev, Vice President at GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, that mindset plays an important role in encouraging a robust team dialogue. It makes meetings more informal while allowing all to appreciate the expertise each team member brings to the table.
Listen for future mini episodes where we’ll bring you highlights from all our past episodes. To hear the full interviews with the leaders featured today, download these episodes:
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