Leadosophy

Episode 56 Leadosophy examines leadership heuristics. Tim discusses 25 random ideas that he's picked up along the journey of leadership and followership. He discusses concepts like the differences between leading and managing, the power of giving power away, his "back to the basics" philosophy, and the idea that there are no exceptions to the rule that respect is earned and not automatic. There's much more in this episode.

What does your list look like?

Season One: Foundations of Leadosophy Leadosophy is the fusion of leadership and philosophy. We use philosophical thought to deepen our understanding of leadership together.

Episode 55 This episode is an addendum to Episode 54: The Leader's Likability Factor. In this episode, Leadosophy graphs a leader's likability alongside a leader's craft competence, i.e., technical competence or proficiency in one's job. Leadosophy proposes that leaders who are high in likability and high in craft competence are rare, maybe extremely rare. Conversely, leaders with low likability and who are low in craft competence are undesirable. Give this episode a shot, and tell me your thoughts. Is Leadosophy off base or over the target?

References

https://hbr.org/2019/10/why-likable-leaders-seem-more-effective

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268491675_Boss_Competence_and_Worker_Well-Being

Season One: Foundations of Leadosophy Leadosophy is the fusion of leadership and philosophy. We use philosophical thought to deepen our understanding of leadership together.

Episode 54 Does it matter if you're liked as a leader? This question can spark debates. How much focus should a leader place on being liked? What are the angel and devil effects, and do they apply to how followers perceive the actions and decisions of leaders? If a leader is not concerned with being liked, does it follow that they will lead like a tyrant? We'll examine questions like these and more as well as dive briefly into a Harvard Business Review article and a book on critical thinking.

References

Foresman, G. A., Fosl, P. S., & Watson, J. C. (2016). The critical thinking toolkit. John Wiley & Sons.

https://hbr.org/2019/10/why-likable-leaders-seem-more-effective

Season One: Foundations of Leadosophy Leadosophy is the fusion of leadership and philosophy. We use philosophical thought to deepen our understanding of leadership together.

Episode 53 Tim discusses the grind-work of leadership, i.e., why being a leader can suck the energy out of you. This episode is a follow-on to the gratitude episode in the last podcast. Leadership is not always glorious work. It's tough at times. From working through personality conflicts to being judged by your boss, your boss's boss, and your followers, leadership can take a mental toll from time to time. Also, leaders only have so much bandwidth to deal with problems, can only focus their energy in one direction at a time, and leaders still must focus on being good followers. Leadosophy examines the grind-work of leadership in more detail in this episode.

Season One: Foundations of Leadosophy Leadosophy is the fusion of leadership and philosophy. We use philosophical thought to deepen our understanding of leadership together.

Episode 52 Tim discusses why he is grateful for the leadership opportunities he was afforded. He discusses how leadership forced him out of his cocoon of introversion and how he learned the value of group intelligence. Also, Tim discusses the awesome power of achieving collective goals, the impact of mentoring and coaching, and the unique opportunities associated with molding future leaders and what that takes.

Season One: Foundations of Leadosophy Leadosophy is the fusion of leadership and philosophy. We use philosophical thought to deepen our understanding of leadership together.

Episode 51 Today, you can make an immediate and positive impact on someone. After all, that is why you're in the leadership game, right?

Episode 50 What happens when we take ourselves too seriously as leaders? If we take ourselves too seriously, then our self-image may become the focus of our actions and decisions. We become image-conscious: afraid to fail, afraid to not have a decision at-the-ready, afraid to say “I don’t know,” afraid to laugh at a joke, afraid to show our authentic or real side, afraid to display any emotion at all.

Leadosophy also briefly examines the dark side of leadership, i.e., when leaders take themselves too seriously and to extreme ends with catastrophic consequences. I call this the Jim Jones Effect. Cult leaders are extreme examples of leaders in positions of power and/or authority who believe that they are omniscient and use their power to convince their followers to do nearly anything.

Season One: Foundations of Leadosophy Leadosophy is the fusion of leadership and philosophy. We use philosophical thought to deepen our understanding of leadership together.

Episode 49 Leadosophy examines the foundation of leadership: the dyadic relationship between one leader and one follower, the smallest possible social group. We'll discuss the leader-member exchange or LMX Theory, which is a studied leadership theory.

We develop unique relationships between leader-follower, and these relationships vary from dyad to dyad. Is this true? Why are some relationships stronger than others in the workplace? What makes a leader-follower dyad compatible or intolerable? How much energy is required for a leader-follower relationship? Does it vary from pair to pair, from situation to situation, from organization to organization? We'll examine this and more.

Season One: Foundations of Leadosophy Leadosophy is the fusion of leadership and philosophy. We use philosophical thought to deepen our understanding of leadership together.

Episode 48 We can function just fine “knowing that” fire will cook and burn, but to “know why” this is so or “how this” happens implies a deeper understanding. Practical knowledge, i.e., knowing how deals with action. It has immediate utility in particular situations. Theoretical knowledge deals with universal generalizations, knowing why so and so is more likely true than false.

Leadosophy proposes that Leadership must be field stripped to expose its first principles. Each principle must be examined and understood. Only then, should we attempt to reassemble leadership’s first principles into something whole. This episode posits 10 universal truths about leadership, opening these ten truths up to criticism and potential falsification.

Do you know of any universal truths that can be applied to leadership?

Season One: Foundations of Leadosophy Leadosophy is the fusion of leadership and philosophy. We use philosophical thought to deepen our understanding of leadership together.

Episode 47 What does our worldview have to do with leadership or how we lead? Leadosophy largely believes our worldviews (our assumptions, beliefs, and values) impact the way we lead, and Tim takes a survey from the U of Penn website to find out what he thinks about the world. Does he think the world is a safe or dangerous place? Does he think the world is largely collaborative or largely cut-throat? Does he think the world has some cosmic purpose or the world is inert, a place of events that just happen without meaning?

References

https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/questionnaires/primals-inventory-abridged

https://myprimals.com

Season One: Foundations of Leadosophy Leadosophy is the fusion of leadership and philosophy. We use philosophical thought to deepen our understanding of leadership together.