3 skills of the Disruptive Leader (and why they matter for the future of work)
Meet the person who will shape the future workplace
Who is the Disruptive Leader?
They’re someone who is not afraid to cut through the comforts of convention, the BS of “This is the way we’ve always done it”. They transcend a particular discipline or level in an organization: they are a marketing manager who trusts their team to own campaign strategy, a newly-promoted software engineering lead who defends their developers from bogus meetings, or an HR executive who creates a strategy to tie performance evaluation to organizational values.
They’re the person who will shape how we get work done in the future.
The Disruptive Leader has many characteristics, but I’d like to focus on three:
Self-trust
Grounded confidence
Courage
Self-Trust
In her book Dare To Lead, Brene Brown offers the BRAVING Inventory as a framework for building an environment of trust. I’d like to walk through each element through the lens of self-trust as a leader.
Boundaries: Am I clear with myself and others about what’s okay and what’s not? How have these boundaries been tested recently? How did I respond in those situations?
Reliability: I follow through on commitments I make. This includes being honest with myself about my capabilities and limitations. I recognize when and how I work my best.
Accountability: How do I approach mistakes I make? Do I own them, apologize and learn from them? Or do I use my energy to find a scapegoat in others?
Vault: I safeguard information and vulnerability that others entrust in me, and I in turn honor my own personal information and experiences by recognizing who is worthy of sharing with.
Integrity: Do I live out the values to which I subscribe, or are my values just bumper stickers? When push came to shove and my values were tested, did I choose to do the right thing (often the courageous, more difficult thing) or did I opt for the fast, easy or less vulnerable path?
Non-judgment: How do I approach situations where I need help? Do I feel ashamed to ask for help? Do I engage in negative self-talk by calling myself “stupid” or “incompetent”? Or do I recognize that asking for help can be a courageous act of strength and self-awareness?
Generosity: I exercise empathy by recognizing the humanity in myself and others. I believe I am trying my best every day and that I am never going to be a finished product. I treat myself with kindness and compassion, especially when I mess up. I recognize that I am a human before I am a leader.
Self-awareness is the bedrock of self-trust. And regular self-reflection is how we build, exercise and maintain self-trust. If leaders are going to build a work culture in which we push innovation, truly live out our organization’s values (instead of just saying we do) and make people feel trusted and empowered to do their best work, we need leaders who lead inside-out through strong self-trust.
Grounded Confidence
Grounded confidence means knowing my strengths, but also my limitations. It’s being okay with sitting on a problem, and being intentional, methodical and inclusive with my approach to solving it. Grounded confidence is the security of not needing to be the first nor the loudest voice in the room. It’s being deeply curious about what more I can learn, from myself, from the people I lead and from the world as a whole.
Grounded confidence is the self-awareness to know the value I bring to the table AND the humility and curiosity to always keep learning more.
(I set a high bar for anyone who calls themselves a leader because of the incredible responsibility it is to be entrusted with the well-being, livelihood and sense of self of others. But I have no time for leaders who conflate the Weight of Leadership with pride, ego or the arrogance to believe they and they alone need to have the answers. Let’s not mistake arrogance for grounded confidence.)
Grounded confidence is the security of not needing to be the first nor the loudest voice in the room.
Courage
There’s a passage from a March 2022 Microsoft report that stuck with me:
The past two years have taught us that culture will stand or fall with managers. But many managers feel stuck between leadership and new employee expectations, and they feel powerless to drive change for their team. Over half of managers (54%) feel leadership at their company is out of touch with employee expectations. And 74% say they don’t have the influence or resources they need to make changes on behalf of their team
This signals two important misses:
A lack of trust from senior leaders for tactical leaders to make the decisions they see fit for their teams
An absence of courage from both senior leaders and tactical leaders to put their own comforts aside and do the hard things
Courage is choosing to do the hard thing, not the easy thing. It’s speaking up for our values no matter how uncomfortable it makes us or those around us.
Courage is knowing that we put ourselves at risk by challenging the status quo but doing it anyway.
Courage is the pillow we rest our head on at night knowing that we put our self-interests aside and did right by those who count on our voice to represent them.
(Quick note: I loathe the line that’s so often drawn in separating “manager” from “leader”. A “middle manager” is just as much of a leader as an executive because they both bear the Weight of Leadership on their shoulders. Full stop.)
In the post-2020 workplace, we face a disconnect between the demands of the modern organization and those of the empowered employee. Lately, the consequences of this disconnect have shown themselves: a record rate of resignations (try saying that 5 times fast!), a severe distrust of today’s organization from the newest generations (who represent half) of the U.S. workforce, and the largest crisis of work-related burnout in modern history.
Something’s gotta give. Organizations will need to recalibrate how they design work and engage people to execute it. And leaders at every level must be the drivers of this evolution. Just as technology disrupts the way we live, we need leaders that disrupt the way we work.
This is where the Disruptive Leader will shine. By embodying the building blocks of self-trust, grounded confidence and courage, the Disruptive Leader will shake up our systems and create the balanced, inclusive and sustainable organizations we need for the future.
It’s the leader I’m excited to meet.
Naveed
If you’re ready to become a Disruptive Leader, let’s start your journey together: https://naveedsiddiqui.com/coaching