Nov 1, 2017
Mark C. Crowley, author of Lead from the
Heart: Transformational Leadership for the 21st Century,
shares his story of why he treats people with extraordinary
compassion. He’s a keen observer of why atypical management
behavior can be effective for creating high-performing teams. He
believes we need fundamental leadership change to meet the
employment needs of the future workforce.
Key Takeaways
[1:43] Mark explains his leadership background.
[3:32] Practical experience leads to success.
[6:23] His unconscious pivot was to give back to those who worked
for him.
[7:36] Mark started to give people the things he had missed in
his life. His teams responded in the most profound ways with
extraordinary success. For twenty years he led with heart. One day
someone pointed out to him that he had a very different way of
managing people. Mark asked what they meant. That observation
opened his eyes.
[8:37] Mark started to explore this new understanding and to
refine his behaviors to be even better. He researched and validated
his own observations and why they worked. People respond to
leadership from the heart by developing loyalty and achieving great
things.
[12:45] The world trends toward focusing on data and
information-based decisions. Daniel Kahneman wrote that after the
rational analysis, ask your heart to weigh in. Insight will tip the
decision one way or the other. Use data to drive operations. When
it comes to people, use emotional currency to drive behavior.
[15:28] If you could save big money and drive earnings with
layoffs, the data and the mind would say to do it, but the heart
would consider the effect on the people you let go, and the effect
on the morale of the people who remain.
[18:51] There is a real connection between emotion, stress, and
the heart. Extreme stress and loneliness accelerate heart problems.
People don’t just want autonomy. They also want association and
collaboration. Make people feel safe, with a trusting relationship
with you, and they will routinely do extraordinary work for you.
Mark tells audiences, love your people.
[32:38] Gallup surveys show no improvement in engagement in 15
years. We need to invest in people to reinvent leadership. Gallup
says two-thirds of managers today lack the ability and talents to
manage and influence people effectively.
Website: MarkCCrowley.com
Twitter: @MarkCCrowley
LinkedIn: Mark C. Crowley
Facebook: Lead From The
Heart
Quotable Quotes
“The pivot that I made unconsciously was to then give back to
people who worked for me.”
“Feelings and emotions drive human behavior and
performance.”
“When I say, lead from the heart, it’s not metaphorical. It’s
literal.”
Low-performing people put onto a high-performing team become
better performers.
Bio
Mark C. Crowley is the author of Lead From
The Heart: Transformational Leadership For The 21st Century
and his mission is to fundamentally change how we lead people in
workplaces around the globe.
Mark is a regular contributor to Fast Company Magazine
and has been published in USA Today, Reuters, The
Huffington Post and the Seattle Times. His two most recent
LinkedIn Pulse articles have been read well over a million times.
His book is now being taught in five American universities,
including the educational Ph.D. program at Brandman University in
California.
Before writing his book, Mark spent over 20 years in senior
leadership roles within the dog-eat-dog world of Financial
Services, where he was named leader of the year. Quite
untraditionally, Mark proved that caring about people, and thereby
positively affecting employee’s hearts, had a remarkable effect on
driving sustained engagement, loyalty, and productivity.
New and breakthrough medical research Mark draws upon in his
book now proves that the heart is actually the driver of optimal
human performance. A leadership pioneer, Mark shows us that leading
from the heart is the most informed and enlightened thing a manager
or organization can do.
Books mentioned in this episode
Lead From The Heart: Transformational Leadership For The 21st
Century, by Mark C. Crowley
Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman
Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its
Soul, by Howard Schultz and Joanne Gordon
Is It Worth Dying For?: How To Make Stress Work For You — Not
Against You, by Robert S. Eliot
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by
Daniel H. Pink