Manage Yourself To Lead Others With Margaret Andrews - TWMJ #1003

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Sep 28, 2025

Margaret Andrews, a Harvard educator and leadership expert, emphasizes that true leadership starts with self-awareness. She shares her journey from receiving critical feedback to reframing it as a valuable perspective. Margaret discusses the importance of authenticity and adaptability in today's ever-changing environment, highlighting how successful leaders adapt to individual differences and use feedback effectively. She also explores the personal nature of success and the impact of AI on communication and leadership, encouraging listeners to own their growth and define success on their own terms.

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ANECDOTE

Feedback That Sparked A Career

Margaret Andrews received blunt feedback from a boss that she lacked self-awareness and interpersonal skills.
That criticism became a catalyst for her to study and build a course on managing yourself to lead others.

ADVICE

Frame Feedback As Helpful Perspective

Give feedback as a perspective that helps people improve, not as a punishment.
Prepare and frame feedback to show what to repeat, what to change, and possible next steps.

INSIGHT

Separate Delivery From Substance

Accepting poorly delivered feedback can still yield valuable insight if you separate delivery from content.
But be selective: you can't act on every unsolicited opinion without filtering for usefulness.

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Welcome to episode #1003 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation).

When you look closely at leadership, it often seems like a conversation about others… how to motivate, how to manage, how to inspire. But what if the real work starts somewhere far more intimate… with yourself? Margaret Andrews, a distinguished educator, consultant and leadership expert, has spent years making the case that true leadership begins with self-awareness. It’s the quiet realization that the patterns of your past, your assumptions and your worldview don’t just shape who you are… they shape how you lead. Margaret’s career has taken her from executive roles at institutions like MIT and Harvard to the classroom, where her popular course Managing Yourself And Leading Others has drawn thousands of leaders seeking to better understand their own strengths and blind spots. This journey culminated in her new book, Manage Yourself To Lead Others - Why Great Leadership Begins With Self-Understanding, which distills years of teaching and research into practical frameworks for leaders who want to navigate complexity without losing sight of their humanity. In this conversation, Margaret pushes us to rethink the building blocks of effective leadership: feedback as a gift (even when it stings), authenticity as resilience and adaptability as a modern necessity in a world where AI and technology are rewriting the rules of management. We also explore how success is deeply personal (not a one-size-fits-all construct handed down by society) and something each leader must define for themselves. Margaret’s perspective resonates because it is both pragmatic and deeply human. She doesn’t shy away from the messy truth that leadership is often uncomfortable, but she also insists that discomfort is where growth lives. By weaving together scholarship, personal experience and insights from her work with executives around the globe, Margaret makes a compelling case for leadership as an ongoing journey of self-discovery. For anyone looking to evolve not just as a professional but as a whole person navigating a rapidly changing world, her work is a beacon. Enjoy the conversation...

Running time: 1:03:08.
Hello from beautiful Montreal.
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Here is my conversation with Margaret Andrews,.
Manage Yourself To Lead Others - Why Great Leadership Begins With Self-Understanding.
Her course: Managing Yourself And Leading Others.
Follow Margaret on LinkedIn.

Chapters:

(00:00) - Introduction to Leadership and Self-Management. (05:55) - The Role of Feedback in Leadership. (12:01) - The Impact of AI on Interpersonal Communication. (17:55) - The Challenges of Self-Selection in Careers. (23:54) - The Evolution of Job Tenure and Leadership Dynamics. (32:35) - Navigating Leadership Challenges in a Public World. (39:51) - Understanding Leadership Styles and Personal Evolution. (45:26) - The Changing Perception of Leadership in Society. (53:13) - Balancing Fast-Moving Environments with Reflective Practices. (01:02:23) - Parenting Lessons Applied to Leadership.