Leading from the inside-out: Why CEOs must make time for self-reflection
Sep 12, 2024
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Ramesh Srinivasan, a senior partner at McKinsey, and Hans-Werner Kaas, senior partner emeritus, discuss the essential soft skills CEOs need in today's complex world. They highlight the importance of self-reflection, humility, and compassion in leadership. The conversation delves into the challenges of technology and geopolitics, emphasizing human-centric leadership traits like courage and resilience. They also explore the balance between AI advancements and empathy, advocating for leaders to foster deep listening and creativity to inspire their teams.
Effective leadership requires balancing traits like confidence with humility, enabling leaders to inspire deeper connections with their teams.
Human-centric leadership emphasizes self-reflection and empathy, essential for navigating complex challenges in an evolving technological landscape.
Deep dives
The Need for Human-Centric Leadership
Leaders increasingly face complex challenges such as geopolitical tensions, technological advancements, and climate change, making a new approach to leadership essential. Human-centric leadership emphasizes the necessity for leaders to reflect on their personal values and purpose to effectively inspire their teams. Understanding oneself enhances the ability to connect with team members on a deeper level, allowing for more authentic leadership. This approach serves as a guidepost for leaders at all levels, encouraging behaviors rooted in empathy, humility, and resilience.
Balancing Personal Traits for Effective Leadership
Truly effective leadership requires a delicate balance between various personal traits, such as courage and curiosity, confidence and humility. Leaders like Stephan Bansal of Moderna demonstrated courage during the pandemic by boldly pursuing vaccine development while simultaneously nurturing a spirit of curiosity to learn how to achieve this unprecedented goal. Similarly, Lynn Elsenhans exemplified the blend of confidence and humility, showing how leaders can assert their presence while remaining grounded and approachable. These examples highlight that the growth journey for leaders is continuous, and embracing one's vulnerabilities can lead to deeper connections and more impactful leadership.
The Role of Technology and Change in Leadership
As artificial intelligence and technology redefine the business landscape, leaders must adapt to maintain their relevance and effectiveness. The value of human empathy, creativity, and deep listening remains irreplaceable, even as technology provides new tools for management. Leaders should approach technological advancements critically, ensuring that they serve the organization and its stakeholders rather than overshadow the human element. Emphasizing human-centric leadership allows institutions to utilize technology responsibly while ensuring the emotional and relational aspects of leadership continue to thrive.
The greatest CEOs are necessarily driven, decisive, and confident. But McKinsey senior partner Ramesh Srinivasan, senior partner emeritus Hans-Werner Kaas, and coauthors of their new book, The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Can Learn to Lead from the Inside Out, say CEOs must weave in a layer of soft skills like self-awareness, humility, and compassion to inspire their workforce. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Srinivasan and Kaas speak with editorial director Roberta Fusaro about taking on the challenge of reinvention for the greater good of the company.