Future Leader: Authority is built on trust; not title

I had the pleasure of being the closing keynote at the API Australia days on the topic

Future Leader.

We are in the next world of work which means we need to challenge traditional leadership and prepare for the skills and mindsets that are required to navigate through this more complex, connected and competitive world of work.

Petra

I am sure everyone's head is spinning and buzzing. And you're already thinking of how can we bring those ideas back and change how we work. And those couple of days are a perfect example, that technology is changing the game.

It's changing the way how we live, we act, we interact, and of course how we work, which means that we have to challenge the way how we think of leadership.

Now the question is how do you lead in is more complex, connected and more rapidly changing world of work? This is exactly what we're going to discuss over the next 30 or so minutes. I want you to come with me on a journey. 

And I want to welcome you to the next world of work and the role of the future leader. What's the one skill that you need to master no matter your role, your profession, your level of seniority.

And since I'm all for practical steps, and once you to put theory into action, I will also share with you very tangible action steps that you can take afterwards straightaway that you can level up your leadership skills. But before we go forward, I want you to come with me and take a step back. Now for those who remember that Back to the Future one of my favorite movies, Marty and stock in the DeLorean.

You will also remember that we were working next to each other as a team without the face masks. Without social distancing. We were applying for roles that were in commuting distance.

Now back then, who would have imagined working and acting like this, working on a global scale from wherever working around your personal commitments, being able to run an entire business from your mobile phone. immersing yourself into virtual reality and fast track your own learning progress. And most importantly, who do you have imagined making money taking selfies?

Well, I definitely could not. And for most of us who can remember that era, they will also remember that era, the traditional career ladder. Fact is most of our education, our foundation, education has been primed us to progress linear. We are graduating from university, we are getting an entry level job, gaining some experience, working our way up, earning the stripes getting the promotion to eventually land the dream job and then retire.

Well, that's not the case anymore. It has been replaced by new reality.

And interesting enough research from the foundation for young Australians suggest that an average Gen set talent, so our next generation is going through 17 different jobs across five different careers. So the traditional way of progressing, and only going back to university to upskill, it doesn't work like that anymore, which is an amazing opportunity for us to also rethink what career success actually looks like. Because it's not always going upwards.

It could also mean sidesteps, sometimes it could mean to take a step backwards to then fast track the next journey. And I'm not sure if you have ever heard this concept, or this technical term, but I'm quite sure you would have experienced or explored it at some stage in your career, the Peter Principle that a traditional education process for us to progress linear.

However, what have often also happens is that we're getting promoted to the highest level of incompetence. And that's the Peter Principle. And this also happen to myself. When I graduated from university with a master's in marketing, I thought,

My one and only career is a fast moving consumer goods, industry doing brand and product marketing. And it was the case for the first 10 years of my career. And I can remember it as it was yesterday, it was a Friday morning. And my manager called me to the office and she asked me to go out for lunch with her. I was like, Oh, yes, it must be time for the next promotion because I worked really hard. While you may imagine that this didn't happen. Instead of my promotion, I got put on a performance improvement plan. me the first one in the last one out, I took on every responsibility and every role there was I got things done. And I was the one who was put on a performance improvement plan.

And I didn't have a plan B, I didn't see that coming. So you can imagine my world turned upside down. And the feedback that she gave me completely changed my way of thinking. And with that the trajectory of my career. What she told me was that, yes, you are a fantastic worker, you are getting so much done. However, you're not building strategic relationships, you're not influencing at the level that you are supposed to influence.

And at this stage, I was in a very senior role. Now I progressed in my career, probably a little bit too quickly. So I was always focusing on my technical skills. And because I could outwork every single other person, I got promoted until their highest level of incompetence, I didn't upskill in my soft skills, which is a very important part. And in this role, I was in a senior role, I was managing 18 different boards across Australia and New Zealand for a very large brand.

8:34

Now, my ego was bruised, to say the least well, so much so that I decided to get out of the industry completely. And I got into recruitment. Through an introduction from a friend. every agency rejected me because it didn't have the experience. But this one agency saw something in me and said, You know what, we give you a chance under one condition.

You need to start a new practice. It's digital, apparently sitting, we're not sure what it is you don't have a client or candidate. But this is the condition you can have the job. I thought, you know what, I'll figure it out. So I said yesterday's. And because I progressed in my marketing career so quickly and was in strategic roles never enhance on roles. I actually didn't know everything that has to do with digital marketing or social media. So what did I do?

Of course, I googled what is Seo. This is literally how I was killed in the first stage. But then because we didn't have any candidates or clients. I also went out to the market and interviewed the brightest in that field in different technology.

Hundreds of candidates are interviewed. And what I saw was that the brightest and the most experienced and most educated talents have missed out on promotions on Pay rises. Often they didn't even get interviewed or invited to the interview.

And assorted common pattern that it wasn't just me this awkward, introverted person who didn't have any clue what the other people perceive about me, but it was a common trend. especially amongst what always called the left brainers, we want a step by step everything. This is how we function perfectly. And this is when I got more fascinated into personal branding, what does it take for us to position ourselves and communicate in a way that makes sense to others?

Because I was in a different tech space, those talents, they could speak tech language. But because I didn't understand a word, I asked a lot of questions. So because I could tell the story and sell them into my clients opportunities, they got the roles. So I thought, what if there is a method? How can systemize this clarification of your point of difference in value that you can then communicate to your decision makers. And this is what I've been doing full time since 2017.

And we've been lucky enough to work with some of the most forward thinking companies from Domino's and serum and Microsoft. And I always say our job is now to future proof companies and the leaders and help them to go from expert to trusted authority. And in the workshop that we just had before trust came up. And this is also a big part in what the future of leadership looks like. Now, where are we now we've taken the DeLorean and COVID-19, literally Fast Forward 10 years, within 10 days, because we've seen those trends, quote unquote, coming for quite some time. And this is one of the best reports that I've ever seen when it comes to future of work skillsets.

And I want to point out the date that it has been released, it's 2011. So for the last decade, we've seen those trends coming. The trends, meaning the rise of smart machines, meaning technology, and new media ecology, we see audio only applications popping up like clubhouse one after the other. We are also seeing a globally connected worlds, we literally work with distributed teams, and this is now what don't want to call new normal. It's the next normal, we're not going backwards anymore.

People are already used to being able to work around the personal commitments and not having to commute. In fact, only 14% of full time employees say they want to go back full time to an office. So we are going to see a hybrid worlds. And at the same time with technology, everything is more transparent. Customers have high expectations.

They expect a much higher quality, but also more transparency when it comes to the leadership team. And the pace of change is picking up because technology is stacked on top of each other. It took 75 years 450 million users to adopt the telephone, it only took 12 years for 15 million to adopt the mobile phone. So we see already everything is now fast forwarding much quicker. And also there's a lot more pressure on companies because truth told we are in a more complex, connected and with that more competitive world of work. And it is only the beginning. We are right at the beginning of next era. What we're seeing because of this more competitive marketplace is that organizational structures are getting leaner and more agile. That also means hierarchies are getting flagged up. And we can easily work our way six levels up.

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And this is not it. A recent c xe global trend study has also found out that 77% of all executives research believe that the gig economy and freelancing will replace full time work within the next five years. So it might not be here right now.

But as we saw, everything is fast tracking much quicker than we used to be. So it's just rethinking the way how we see career development and leadership. because it requires a new type of leader in a new way of leadership. So the question is what is leadership to start with? So I did what every central millennial would do. I googled it.

And I got 2.7 5 billion explanations and results wasn't quite the answer I was looking for clearly. The one answer that we do know, however, is that simply being better, having more education, having more years of experience isn't good enough anymore.

Because we are competing with a global talent pool and knowledge and years of experience and degrees have become a commodity through thought there will always be somebody who is smarter, who is more experienced, who is more educated, who is cheaper, who is faster, you name it. So that next world of work their marketplace requires a different type of skill sets. And that comes down to collaboration and influence. Now, the next step, what are in terms of researching what the contemporary leadership is all about? and looked at three examples.

Paul Davidson clubhouse, co founder The clubhouse is an audio only application and was launched last year. It's a billion dollar company. He built this with a team of 10. And this morning, I was in the clubhouse room with a global CTO from Accenture. And this is the next way of communication.

We've got access to some of the smartest people in their field and can ask questions directly. Mel Perkins, she was in the media today Canva is worth 55 billion after a $200 million race. And she is not only transformed the graphic design profession, but an entire industry.

And what about even speeding, the co founder of Snapchat, those short, snappy and educational but also entertaining videos have changed the way how we communicate, our attention spans are shorter than before. And that has a ripple effect in every other industry. People are switching off, there's a lot more distraction happening, more notifications, what do they have in common, even though they have completely different industries, they are going first. And this is leadership. Leadership is going first, it's creating change in one way or another. Leadership is influence. Because if we can influence we can drive change. And, and influence is about effecting or changing something or someone, every communication is about change.

16:28

So these days to say, do so because I told you so well, doesn't fly anymore. That's it. But if we do want to get things accomplished, and it might be anything from getting the funding for a project, getting the headcount approved, getting a client to sign up, you name it, we need to add one skill.

And that is influence, meaning being able to communicate in a way that the stakeholders see it's a benefit for them.

And that does require a title. It requires the exercise the reps of doing it. So summing it up, what is the future of leadership, it's the ability to create informal and formal networks and influence beyond titles. This is why I always say we need to become the trusted leader, the trusted authority, not authority or leader by title. Because that's all news. Leadership is all about actions, its behavior. And I know I'm talking to a lot of different tech professionals. So I'm the biggest introvert you will ever meet. So I want to focus on the fact that leadership doesn't need to be loud.

Leadership is intentional, showing up with intention behaving with intention.

And I also want to challenge your way of approaching leadership. Yes, there is people leadership, and some of us wants to drive their path. I for myself, I wouldn't consider myself as a people leader, even though I lead big teams, big digital and tech teams. I enjoyed it. But did it drive me not so much, I would put myself into the category of thoughts and ideas, leadership. Other people are more driven by getting the results, and I met many of them in my recruitment career.

You just gave them a big target for the quarter, and they were chasing it like a dog chasing a bone. Others are more driven by creating change. And given we are in this more complex world, these people identify what are the processes that are duplicated by the entire team that slows us down. That costs money? How can I improve that process? Again, we don't need a title for that type of leadership. These are all actions. 

And what it does come down to is identifying what is my idea? What is the value that I can create? What is my strength that I can leverage. And when I share my idea, and create an insight around this idea that makes sense to others, I can then increase my influence and impact a bigger audience. Now when you say okay, I get that I need to know what I'm good at. And then I can communicate with others. But how do I actually do it? 

How do I increase influence, especially if I don't have a title? Through trust, simply through trust. And trust is built on three elements credibility, likability, and visibility. Lack credibility is everything that makes you qualified to talk about that topic.

And this is where most experts get stuck. They are focusing on getting more degrees and more qualifications and more years of experience. But simply that you are here that you are immersing yourself into the industry that you've got hands on experience already qualifies you as credible.

And I will also share with you in a second How else credibility actually come through. When we want to build our trusted authority also, outside our own bubble. Now we can be the best, but if nobody likes us, we're not going anywhere. We're not We're not going to be able to influence likeability is a big factor when it comes to trust, because it shows we've got something in common. This is how we establish trust. And we also share with you something very practical, how you can become more likeable. And finally, visibility. If no one knows of you, they won't trust you, which means you're not going to impact or influence other people.

20:25

So we need to rethink traditional leadership and focus on the future leadership. No longer is it about me. No longer is it about making myself dispensable. It's about making the collective the team dispensable, and also want to challenge the word team. It's not people in our department, as a team, in this hybrid world of work, are people relevant to achieve an outcome a goal, which is why visibility, which I'll come back in a second, is so crucial to build those relationships early on.

These days, we are faced with so much uncertainty, no one knows what tomorrow brings. It's not about knowing all the answers and trying to figure it all out. It's about asking more questions, and also challenging the status quo. What else can we do to be more competitive? How else can we innovate and reinvent ourselves? It's not about me winning and being the first at the end. It's about creating this Win Win relationship, which requires long term thinking, which is very hard, and it's very short term and very reactive world of work.

But this is exactly what prepares us to be sustainable in the future, and be proactive, rather than just responding to whatever happens to us. As I said before, it all starts with ourselves. 

Because if I don't know what I'm really good at, what are my goals, what are my strengths, and also weaknesses, I can't communicate that. And with that account, complement my strength and skills with other people's strengths as keys, and strengths and weaknesses. Now, once I know that, and I am clear about what type of trusted leader trusted authority, I want to be seen as an associated with, I can then communicate it.

I can explain my what, what I can do, how it impacts others, and why it's important for them to listen. This way, I can also build my work network strategically, because I already know what kind of benefit I can bring in how they will be impacted by it. And it's not just about collecting people into our universe, it's then also fostering relationships, long term over short term.

Again, I'll show you very, very practical steps how you can do it. But it all starts with this one question that you want to answer. This is your little homework. What is it that you want to be known for? Think about it, it might be that you're the results driven leader, it might be that you are a people leader, to get the best out of others. It might be that you want to make an impact with your thoughts with your ideas, and make your message your focus. There is no right or wrong. But it starts here. And it's kind of choose your own career journey. 

Nobody looks after you in terms of this is the next step because we don't know, it comes down to us taking agency and responsibility over What do I want? And how can I create commercial opportunities within my team within my department within my organization that leverages my strength, my experience and my skill sets. Now, I spoke to you, there are three elements of trust. And if you've done other things in between, and have been multitasking, then I want you to come back and want to get a notepad out and take some notes because it's now time for some actionable tips, tricks and tools.

When I say we need to establish credibility, it's not having more years of experience, it's not having another title. It's becoming a translator of your message. Because simply doing amazing work doesn't mean you have influence over others. Becoming a trusted authority means that you are able to translate what you know, in a way, what you know can do for others becoming the translator.

This is also how we build trusted authority. I work with a lot of thought leaders who want to break through in the market and be known for a message. It's not using all the technical jargon. It's about relating it back to people who I want to influence. I had the pleasure to meet Steve horseneck a couple of years ago, co founder of apple and I want to share with you a very short 20 seconds clip, but it is so profound in what he says so hope technology is with me and it works.

24:46

Steve Wozniak:

Simplicity. Simplicity is a main stake of Apple Computer and it really does come to both of us. Steve Jobs was only known because he was being publicized, but even long before computers. He knew that I always Talk about it's like designing things with fewer parts, it's easier to understand it's easier to build. And it works more reliably, it takes a lot of knowledge and a lot of work to do that. But the idea is simplicity. We spoke about them long before this, Steve was into also a lot of the Eastern thinking, which says, quiet down and, and, you know, and make things for everybody and make them understandable, largely for himself.

25:23

And this was so profound this insight, simply saying, make it easy for others to understand mainly for himself, the more difficult it is, the harder I have to think. And I'm sure you've come across those people who are throwing different jargon and technical terms at you, and you have no idea what they're talking about. And this is what makes us feel stupid or silly, or not as educated. And this actually reflects badly on your personal brand.

Because your brand is the Association, the emotion that you evoke in others. Now, when I speak your language, and I can use terms like a child, and you know, any kind of technical terms, this is where we've got a common ground. This is what also makes me likeable. Now, once I do know, what is my message? And what is the simplification of it, how does what I know impacts others, I can then build my likeability. And this is where we talk about cut through communication.

26:25

Usually what we do is when we have to work as a tech team, with the marketing team, or with the customer support team, or with the legal team, it's kind of me against them. But you shouldn't be again, team is about who do I need to get on board to get to an outcome? 

Now, how can we find commonalities? It's about doing research, understanding what the other team is actually measured by? What are their biggest struggles?

What do they not understand, we need to break down silos. When we have something that we can use to our advantage, it's also coming down to storytelling, I started the keynote with my story that you understand where I'm coming from, to make it more relatable, rather than showing up and say, do this, do this and do that, I've unfortunately experienced it very hands on also cutting the jargon, we want to make it easy for others to understand that we don't have to waste a lot of brainpower and energy, because this is what where people switch off.

Nowadays, with more digital communication, we've got short windows of breaking through with our communication. So cutting down the jargon and using metaphors. So you know, it's like, it feels a little bit like, this is what people can remember, because it's what they know. And this is also what makes your message relevant to them.

This is what they remember. And the last point that I want to make this the most practical part here, speak in threes. The brain is wired to pick up anything that's in threes a lot easier. When I started my keynote, I said, we are going to discuss what the next wall of work is the future leader and its role, and the three tactical steps that you can take straight away. Three, not more.

You can even think of iterations that also has this rhythm in our brain. I always say my process is clarify, communicate, commercialize your point of difference. When you present an idea, one, when you want to get a buy in, or funding, you want to cut straight to the point. Today we're discussing 123. People understand that and you already show leadership skills without necessarily having the title for it. This leads us into the last part, we need to build a strategic network.

This is also increasing visibility with other teams and departments and their leaders, which again helps us to build trust. If we have had a lot of face contact, you will know oh yeah, I've known this person, I trust this thing of a gym, you go there for the first time. Everything feels daunting. A week later, you're best buddies with everyone.

The same goes for our own department. So how can we collaborate? We need to network we need to strategically network.

And I really want to hone in on this point that networking is working. So often we are so busy doing the doing and just working away long hours, they will forget that this is not the only way how we can increase our influence. It's a tiny part. It's one piece to the puzzle.

This is where most people get stuck. They are an expert, they are doing the doing because they're also driven by doing it. However, without the visibility, we can never establish the level of trust that we need if we want to influence if we want to progress if we want to get the bigger fundings and budgets for our projects. But we need to do it intentionally.

Because we are time for and we are busy, which I absolutely acknowledge. But there are certain stakeholders and groups that we want to become friendly with. It starts with the internally, your team needs to be on board and your leadership team, but also leadership teams and peers from other departments organizing a monthly Lunch and Learn session where we can actually share what projects that we're working on. What challenges have we had celebrating birthdays, this is already breaking down silos and it can be done and one hour or sometimes 45 minutes session, which again, it's so important to be really clear with our communication. What do I work on? And how does it impact other departments.

But this is one part, we also want to expand our network and build an external network, to not get blindsided to not have the blinkers on. And it starts with having peers in the same or similar industry, but in different organizations and see how they do it. What can I learn, apply lateral thinking, what works there? And why? And how can I apply it to our situation?

Who are some of the industry and thought leaders that I can follow and learn from the globe, the World Economic Forum, for example, is one of my resources that I study intensely. 

And I'm a bit of a geek, I love research and data interpretation as my hobby. So don't hold that against me. And lastly, I would also recommend to build a personal advisory board, people you trust, who you can bounce off ideas and see if it lands with others. Or if it's sometimes sounds a little bit clearer and a little bit more compelling in your head. But in a second you saying like

31:27

I even confused myself. So you want to build this. And the last very, very tactical tips that I want to share with you is how can we be a more active collaborator? Instead of asking, How much can I get from people? It's more How can I give and giving and creating value comes in so many shapes and forms? And I want you to contextualize it, how What does apply may not be everything is applicable to your own situation. But what are 123 actions that you can take straight away?

Time simply listening to feedback from others? Why are other departments or teams frustrated with you? What is the underlying reason, we share that we give them the feeling that they are important to us? even asking the right questions, tell me more. I'm curious, opening the conversation, and also initiate or participate in activities rather than saying, Oh my god, I'm too busy, I can't do a meditation or country yoga session, I can't do the Friday afternoon drinks, whatever it might be, we want to show up. And we want to make it an effort to actually get there. value creation, super easy. 

One of my favorite ways to also stay in touch with my external network is sharing articles that I know are relevant for them. Harvard Business Review articles always fly, because they are profound. You can do it with the team.

And when you know, the marketing team is working on a certain project, something might be interesting for them. It could be making introductions, because again, those two people associate you with value creation that they now know each other. Even sending the agenda, we are all time poor. So how can we make sure that we are on time, also, when it isn't your role, no matter how senior or junior you are, you are taking initiative. And that also leads into feedback.

So it could be I'm sending the agenda, but I'm also summarizing it, which often also helps us to make sure that we actually understood what was spoken about and having the final summary saying. So what I've understood, the next steps are 123 everyone is okay with that. You're showing leadership. At the same time, when you send out an email, your name pops up to everyone involved. brand building. It's all about visibility and staying Top of Mind, giving feedback and giving credit to those who need it is a great way for you to also show humility, share it publicly.

The future leader is about being the trusted authority, not by title, but because we trust you.

And that means we show credibility. We can connect the dots. We know how to communicate it because I'm using the common language, which makes us likable.

And I'm also visible people know me already, because I've passed different doorways, digital doorways.

And if anyone is interested to connect with me further, how could I not use a QR code? I think by now we should all be very familiar how we use it. You get all my contact details there. And I would love to stay in touch and of course see what you are putting into practice.