There are only two kinds of leadership in this world: leading yourself and leading others.
Your ultimate goal is to master and deliver on them both. If you’ve been a leader in the midst of this crazy pandemic you know that times are as complex as ever.

So now, more than ever, how you lead yourself and others might become the defining moment of your leadership career.

There are 10 key leadership lessons I’ve developed that I believe represents a leader who cares. Considerate and engaging leaders – ones are all in, who fully (and completely) understand the criticality of crafting meaningful, respectful relationships among all stakeholders – are leaders who know how to handle events such as pandemics, working from home, employee choice and other potentially rocky paths that require a deeper form of resilience. Each and every human interaction is crucial! Every exchange can be mutually beneficial.

MJ’s 10 leadership lessons:
Be real, relatable and empathetic
Hire well, invest in PnC, empower your whanau and get out of their way
Check your ego at the door and act with purpose
Share knowledge to build an intelligent organisation committed to continuous improvement
Stay present and attentive to the needs of all whanau members
Embrace the new, change and the opportunity for growth it offers
Stay curious and adopt lifelong learning
Think and act with clarity, walk the talk
Commit to balance and inclusivity in all your dealings
Act with humility and thoughtfulness
The bottom line is that when you care enough to champion others, the workplace becomes happily engaged and your organisation benefits in more ways than one.

Too many business leaders do not understand this yet but a sense of purpose has become table stakes for all employees. Now more than ever, purpose is paramount to loyalty in this crazy competitive talent pool!

Equally important, today’s organisations are being pressured to begin exhibiting purpose in their operating practices. (Not just slapped on the walls of their reception walls).

If there is a positive interconnection between the three distinct categories of purpose – personal, role and the business – the benefits will be felt by all stakeholders.

One of MJ’s favourite Authors Dan Pontefract refers to this balanced state of purpose as the ‘sweet spot.’ The alignment of purpose between self, role and the business is critically important for both employees and leaders.

The more that you as leader can assist employees to understand this alignment of purpose, the quicker everyone will recognise how important the ‘sweet spot’ is to an engaging and fulfilling lifetime of work. The quicker an employee defines, develops and decides their purpose – alongside how bought in they are to the business’s purpose – the more engaged, impactful and innovative they will be in their role … and in their relationships and life in general.

Engaged employees are critical to all hyper growth businesses – irrespective of industry.

Ever wonder why global levels of employee engagement continue to plummet and remain incredibly low?

For leaders in any business seeking to improve productivity and business results, they must first start with their own “MO” and operating culture.

To improve the culture is to build up and unleash behaviours that permit employees to feel empowered, connect and collaborate effortlessly full of goodwill.

An employee only becomes engaged when the culture is open, transparent, communicative, collaborative, and trustworthy. These are just some of the behaviours that must define how a business operates (when you’re not watching). To be successful, business leaders need to rethink their workplace culture by instituting systemic – wide behaviours that encourage one another to work together, transitioning from ME TO WE, versus in silos or competitively.

A boss tells people what they must do to achieve a goal. A true leader asks what they can do to advance the vision.

The engagement of employees occurs as a result of how they feel about the businesses vision, culture and its purpose. There is a way to correct it, and MJ has the only way to help you out.