Ep 229: Tim Mapes of Delta - "The Self-Aware Leader"

How do you feel?

Tim Mapes is the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for Delta Airlines. 

Delta employs over 90,000 people and puts 4,000 flights into the air every day. As Tim points out, a Delta plane is in the air every second. It is a high-pressure, highly visible job.

Behind that job, is a person. 

Early in our conversation, it became obvious that Tim is very willing to look at himself honestly and at his own behavior with self awareness. 

I asked him where that came from. And he said, simply, counseling.

Invariably, in my experience, it ties back to an experience you had as a child that is being triggered by something in adult life, but it's evocative of a feeling that you either liked or didn't like or were scared of as a child.

Leaders are human too. 

It’s easy to forget that simple truth in a world in which leadership itself is too often deified. The more impressive the title, the more we imbue that person with mystical powers of knowledge and wisdom.

Leaders need to earn the respect of the people that choose to work for them. And re-earn it on a regular basis. 

The problem is that over time, successful leaders often tend to create a one way mirror that shows them the world they want to see. And the people that work for those leaders quickly learn that challenging that image is a ticket to nowhere.

The act of building that mirror is usually not one of arrogance or hubris. More often, much more often, it comes from a need to protect ourselves from a feeling that is too difficult to confront.

The willingness to ask ourselves how we really feel, and the courage to explore that question honestly, is the beginning of a journey that replaces the mirror with a window into the lives and feelings of others.

And from that beginning, anything is possible.