36
ELIAS KANARIS
For us to develop stronger board-
rooms, we need to develop stronger
leaders. Leadership requires col-
laboration and that comes together
with trust. If we’re trying to become
the sole survivor in the Boardroom,
we might as well give up the game
before we create a killing field.
Promises of ‘going all the way’ are
made only to be broken at the sight
of a better offer.
How can you make a decision about
somebody at first sight? It takes time
to get to know someone and to see
them for who they are. Yes, it is pos-
sible to make a good first impression,
but it takes discernment and wisdom
to judge someone over a prolonged
period.
As a conscious leader, make sure that
you don’t make rash promises that
you will be unable to deliver on at the
start of a relationship.
III. TAKE THEM WITH YOU ON THE
JOURNEY
If you want to get somebody onboard,
don’t start off by vision casting. The
#1 problem with Survivor is a player
that talks up a strong and aggressive
game-plan from the get-go. Spend
time with your people to get to know
them first and then start to sell your-
self and your vision to them. As John
Maxwell says, “People buy into the
leader, then the vision”.
Make sure that you are investing in
your people and getting to know
the real “them”. People will respond
more favourably to a leader when
they know that there’s a vested inter-
est in themselves.
IV. ACCEPT YOUR MISTAKES
LEAD | January 2018
We all make decisions that, with
hindsight, we regret. The question
is: How do you address the conse-
quences of those mistakes? What
I’m about to say next might shock
some of you. It is OK for you or your
team to make a mistake! As long as
you learn from it. Learning is your
responsibility. When I was speaking at a confer-
ence in Stamford, Connecticut, Des
Hague, opened the conference by
sharing a timely tale of his misfor-
tune at the hands of social media.
Its power became apparent when
a video obtained from the CCTV
footage from a Vancouver hotel ele-
vator went viral.
According to Jennifer Shakeel, our
attempts as parents to shield our
children from making mistakes can
be detrimental to their development.
Shakeel says;“It is important to teach Hague was the CEO of the U.S. cater-
ing company Centerplate when he
was caught on camera kicking a
small, cowering dog five times and
swinging it up from the ground by
“For us to develop stronger boardrooms, we need
to develop stronger leaders. Leadership requires
collaboration and that comes together with trust.”
a child that making a mistake isn’t
fatal, and that they can use mistakes
as a way of learning to find better
ways to be successful.”
As a leader, do you apply the same
principle to your team? Are you
encouraging them to take calculated
risks and to grow? Do you take them
through a debrief once a mistake
has been identified that empowers
them to learn, or do you create an
atmosphere of retribution? How you
handle mistakes and failure creates
an important cultural expectation
that can attract or repel people.
V. REMEMBER THAT SOMEONE’S
ALWAYS WATCHING YOU
Social media has brought us even
closer to each other. Today, it is
becoming alarmingly difficult for you
to post something that doesn’t have
a chance of going viral.
its leash.
Hague pleaded guilty to animal
cruelty, resigned from Centerplate,
and was ordered to donate $100,000
to animal welfare following the
public furore over this incident.
With an estimated 500,000 public
cameras in London alone, you need
to ensure that you are always on the
right side of the law, irrespective of
where you live.
This applies to both your public
as well as private persona. It is no
longer taken for granted that a home
is a man’s castle. Are you the same
person at work as you are at home?
PROTECT YOUR REPUTATION TO
SURVIVE
If your focus is primarily on the prof-
itability of the organisation, you may