Welcome to Incorporating SuperPowers. We are going to blow some things up today, folks. Yes, I am really, really looking forward to this conversation because it’s one that is, well, if you’ve been paying attention, it is just extremely relevant to the tides of our country and the tides of the world right now, as far as leadership is concerned.
Today, we’re going to be talking about leadership evolution, and what needs to happen for the evolution of leadership to actually occur. Because I think we can all agree that we’re stuck in a little bit of a rut, and one side doesn’t like this way, this site doesn’t like it that way. You got your own way, and everybody’s just begging for somebody to step up to the plate and go, “Enough, it’s time to evolve.”
And that’s where my guest comes in today. Jennifer Mackin is the author of a new book called Leaders Deserve Better. And this is going to get at a lot of good stuff. Jennifer, Rob, thank you so much for being on the show. I know prior to us recording when you and I were talking a little bit about just some of the fact that leadership development, which is the industry that you’re in, hasn’t evolved in forever.
Right.
Talk to me a little bit more about the book, and why you wrote it.
Thank you for having me, Justin. I love the opportunity to share these types of conversations, especially with other experts like yourself. This book came about because of being in the industry for over 25 years, making some of the same mistakes that I still see being made today, and also seeing an alternative to the way we are doing things.
And with billions of dollars spent on leadership development, the CEOs, all the surveys I see, they put development in their top three, yet nothing changes. The book is to lay out a new approach to share why it’s not changing and a new approach for how to make it really this revolution of change for leadership development.
Talk to me a little bit about the book, and what are some of the key points that the book highlights as far as why are we here? I mean, we look out across the range of issues in the world right now, and I think it would be a fair assumption, at least from a business perspective, to say that a lot of the failings that we’re seeing in the world right now, especially if you believe in a free market, and capitalism, and self-dominion, and helping others.
Yeah.
How did we get here?
Well, I think we got here because we do not have its government or corporations, or startups, whatever it is, the senior team, the C-suite, don’t see it as their responsibility to develop leaders. And they’re not as involved as they need to be in whatever the development is that they do execute.
I believe there are four things to consider that I lay out in the book to combat that. But if we connect the leadership team, who’s designing the strategy of what they’re trying to accomplish, whether it’s a business or whether it’s the government, and we have to make sure that the development of people is aligned with that.
And I think that’s the biggest missing piece, and they don’t see it as their responsibility, and they hand it off to the human resource department or leadership development department and just think they’re going to get it.
And it’s not as much a problem with the programs themselves. I mean, the content and delivery also need to change. But this is the biggest problem I’ve seen in development not sticking and leaders learning things but not putting them into play when they go back to the office.
This is good. This is really good. Because I think you hit the nail right on the head. I mean, we have to start. How did we get here? Well, we first have to take a look at the existing leadership structures that we’ve seen. And I think as far as business is concerned, it’s so old school, the whole fact that you said you got to identify the problem. The problem exists at the C-suite level.
Agreed.
And the old adage of the C-suite level is all about making money, making money, making money. And they’re not down in the weeds, and that old form of focus for the business is what allowed for, for lack of better words, the sharks to come to the surface, which is why business is so bloody because there’s so much competition out there.
And when that is the construct of which business is being done, the only leaders that are going to arise are the ones that are in conflict, the ones that are divisive, the ones that are just out to save their own soul to make a buck. And what does that do? It’s right where we’re at today.
Yeah. I think that’s part of it, focusing on near-term results, whether that’s financial or stock price, which is financial. But I also don’t think they know what to do, and how to develop. And they don’t see it as part of their job. They focus more on the function of their job, whether that’s sales, or accounting, or whatever it is, and don’t think about, oh, I’ve got to get people prepared for this next level.
And if they had a way, if they knew away, at least I’m hopeful, if they knew a way, a better way, they would do it. And so one of the pieces of the book that I think is revolutionary, because I haven’t seen anything out there like it, is a tool that senior team, human resources, other leaders can complete to understand where their strengths are, and where their difficulties or challenges are, and align everyone together around where do we want to put resources? How do we fix this? What’s important to our business versus someone else?
This is a very complex topic. It’s very hard to get leaders ready. And we’re never there. We’ve never arrived with our leadership ability, I don’t think. There’s just so much to do. So I don’t think they know what to do.
I agree. I absolutely agree. And that brings me to a great pause because I want to transition there. Because if you’re listening to the show, and you’re a business owner, or if you’re looking upon the business world, and you’re wondering what’s going on, where’s this coming up, how can I see the problems, and you know that you don’t want to repeat them. You don’t want to become that. You want to do something different. You want to do something better and bigger, more expansive. What does that look like?
Well, I think Jennifer’s got the tool. Go take a look. Jennifer, can you share with the listeners where they can go take a look at that tool to get that reflection for themselves, their business, and their departments.
Yes.
And where can they get a copy of your book?
Yes. Thank you, Justin. Yes, please go to jennifermackin.com. There’s a sample of the tool that you can complete there, just to get a sense of it. It’s also pretty much fully laid out in the book with a few adjustments here and there.
Okay.
So jennifermackin.com. Thank you.
Fantastic, yes. Folks, go take a look at that. If you’re in business, if you’re in a leadership role, this conversation, as far as I’m concerned, is probably one of the most important there is if not the most important there to have in business. Because otherwise, we are bound just to continue to make the same old mistakes.
And ultimately what we do as consumers, and in our individual lives, and personal lives is we end up advocating our self, our energies, our efforts to the mighty dollar. And there’s so much more that we should be committed to in making this world a better place because that’s why we got into business in the first place.
Stay tuned. We will be right back as we dive down this rabbit hole. I’ll give you the tips and tools that you need to become a better leader so you can evolve as well as they do. We’ll be right back.
To listen to the entire show click on the player above or go to the SuperPower Up! podcast on iTunes.
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