Whether you’re managing people or your own life, the key to masterful leadership is knowing who you are and becoming very good at understanding the people you come into contact with. This is just one nugget of leadership wisdom Roxi Hewertson, CEO of The Highland Group Consulting, Inc., has learned during her 30 years of serving as a leader and teaching and coaching others to develop masterful leadership skills. Roxi says the most visionary leaders in the world understood themselves, their purpose and their mission and were able, not just to communicate it, but to connect with others on the same level.
Roxi’s purpose is to develop leaders who can transform the world with positive, powerful leadership. In fact she blames many of the world’s problems on the lack of effective leaders. People aren’t taught to lead. They reach a certain level in their career and are given management positions with no training. It’s no wonder so many fail. Roxi says you need to expect to make mistakes. She has made plenty and learned from all of them. Now she has written the book all leaders need to read, Lead Like It Matters…Because It Does: Practical Leadership Tools to Inspire and Engage Your People and Create Great Results.
Women and Men Lead Differently
When men use their naturally balanced right brain-left brain approach to leadership, they are very successful. When women use their balanced heart-head right brain-left brain skills, they are very successful. Women tend to focus more on the process, while men focus more on results. It’s natural, but a balance needs to be achieved. Roxi says it makes no sense for women to try to lead like men. We need to own our skills and share them to help men become more effective leaders. Women are great collaborators and relationship people and we need to use those skills in a leaderly and mindful way.
Women have few feminine leader role models, so have taken their lead from men. For decades that means command and control leadership—the do-what-I-say, rugged individualist model. However, Roxi points out that good leadership is completely about relationships. She notes that her best manager was a very quiet man. Good leaders are not necessarily the ones that step up and take center stage. They are self-aware, frequently introverted and very aware of others. This makes them good listeners and keen relationship builders.
Balanced Leadership Needed Now
With today’s increasingly connected world, we need more women leaders. Roxi urges women to step up, accept the role and become a role model for future generations. First, become the leader of yourself, then your family and your community. Women shy away from leadership for a multitude of reasons, which are all caused by our culture:
- We’ve been socialized to be the victim and depend on others.
- Our reference group (other women) chide us for “being too big for our britches.”
- We allow obstacles of criticism and fear of failure to prevent us from trying.
- Women still think in terms of scarcity: the more for you the less is for me.
Roxi and Dr. Nancy both call for support from other women. When we take control of our own lives and a purpose we care about, we can do anything.
Listen to more inspirational wisdom in this interview and check out Ask Roxi.com to get your questions answered and learn more about her leadership training programs and her book, Lead Like It Matters….Because It Does, to help you acquire practical wisdom to become the very successful CEO of your own life.