The Most Powerful Leadership Advice From 12 Highly Successful Leaders By Dolly Waddell
In Season 1 of the Extra-Ordinary Leaders podcast, I interviewed 12 top leaders across a variety of different sectors, and discovered some incredible nuggets of wisdom and advice. In this blog, I’m sharing the 12 key principles that I learned throughout my conversations, which add the “extra” to the ordinary for any leader wanting deeper insight, wisdom and confidence.
Let’s remind ourselves what extra-ordinary leadership means to some of the best in business.
Motivate, inspire and engage
The essence of extra-ordinary leadership has remained unchanged for thousands and thousands of years. The tools we have to apply that leadership have changed (and in recent years all the more rapidly), but at its core extra-ordinary leadership is about how we motivate, inspire and engage others.Our uniqueness is our superpower
Our uniqueness is what makes us all extra-ordinary. Those ordinary things about ourselves that we take for granted (like our personality and our nature) set us apart from each other. Leveraged in the right way, this becomes our superpower once we do the work and learn about our tendencies.Lean into doubt
Uncertainty and doubt is not the antithesis of leadership – it is a part of it. Self-assurance is one of the major things people struggle with, and that's OK! Instead of trying to pretend we’re immune to the “inner wobble” or the “voice of doubt” as leaders, we should embrace them. Our ordinariness – that is, our vulnerability to the normal struggles of life – does not threaten our extra-ordinary leadership ability. It creates the potential for it.Use influence to encourage and inspire
Of course, leadership comes with a degree of influence and power. How that influence and power is used is what distinguishes extra-ordinary leaders from their opposite. Extra-ordinary leaders use their influence as a way of encouraging the extra-ordinary in others by inspiring them, leading with intention and sincerity, and allowing them to fail.Lead with purpose
Leadership with purpose has soul, heart and genuine compassion for the people that make up a business. Extra-ordinary leaders know the people they work with. They know their motivations, their strengths and their struggles — and not just how these pertain to profit. They’re able to do this because they know their own motivations, strengths and struggles, too.Do good things consistently
This speaks to the crux of extra-ordinary leadership: it’s not about the ‘WOW! BOOM!’ razmataz things we do once in a while, but the good, ordinary decisions we make day after day, year after year. These decisions are what add up to equal our extra-ordinary abilities.It’s OK to admit we don’t know everything
Doing so pulls us out of the victim mentality that we are all vulnerable to, and puts us in a space of extra-ordinary leadership. Again, it is about embracing our ordinariness: we’re not superhuman. We can’t possibly know everything, or have all the answers all the time. Holding a leadership title doesn’t change that. Overcoming our victim mentality (and the ego that puts us there) and owning our blind spots means we can move forward: we can ask our team the right questions, we can build up the gaps in our knowledge, and we can dial down the pressure.Move away from binary thinking
The world does not fit within a binary model, and neither does our extra-ordinary leadership ability. Right or wrong, true or false, success or failure – it isn’t always one or the other. Sometimes two seemingly opposite things can be true at once. Part of extra-ordinary leadership is embracing this. Doing so allows balance, connection, understanding, compassion and flexibility – core facets of our extra-ordinary potential.Build your resilience
Resilience is the foundation of extra-ordinary leadership. There will be many days when we feel we’ve no fight left, when we don’t have enough energy to get out onto the pitch and play the game. This is when we rely on our resilience – which, like anything, is a muscle that can be built up with recovery, instinct, and bravery.Focus on intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic pressure
This type of leader is transformational: they build relationships with their team and inspire people to get things done, rather than ‘motivating’ them with extrinsic rewards or punishments. This type of leader allows themselves to be human, and in doing so creates an environment of psychological safety that encourages other people to let their natural talents shine.Don’t lead from behind a screen
We cannot lead from behind a screen, or locked in our office. We might have the best intentions in the world, but until we actually get on the ground, ask our team questions, and identify the areas for improvement, our intent will never match our impact.Be grounded in the ordinary
This is indeed what this Extra-Ordinary Leaders journey has been: grounded in the ordinary. It is about the extra things we can add to our ordinary – the ordinary being the foundation of everything. Without it, life becomes unmanageable. If we are constantly striving for the next big, amazing, fantastic thing, we lose sight of the day-to-day responsibilities, behaviours and choices that make up who we are, our impact on others and what we achieve.
What is at the core of extra-ordinary leadership?
For me, what summarises extra-ordinary leadership is that nothing is so binary that it is just black and white.
We are all made up of very ordinary and very extra-ordinary things. At the core, it is about self-management: understanding who we are, how we respond to things, our fears and our failures. How are you wired? How do you react when you’re stressed? What does life look like when you’re healthy?
An extra-ordinary leader is someone who takes the time to think about how they impact those around them and how they can use their strengths to influence and motivate others.
More to come
The Extra-Ordinary Leaders journey doesn’t end here. I’m busy reaching out and recruiting more extra-ordinary leaders to share their stories, advice and experience for Season 2.
So if you’re ready to continue this journey into what it takes to be an extra-ordinary leader in the 21st Century – self management, new technology, and day-to-day ordinariness – join us. Head over to LinkedIn to be notified when Season 2 goes live, and if you missed any episodes of Season 1, catch up here.
Top tips inspired by:
Renowned international speaker (including the UN), author and leadership consultant across the globe.
Renowned international speaker and leadership expert, co-founder of GiANT London & Worldwide and bestselling author.
Executive coach, award-winning author and keynote speaker, and creator of The Unlock Moment.
Actor, documentary narrator, expert communication coach and founding partner of GSB Comms.
Founding partner and CEO of Wilton & Bain, listed in the top 100 companies to work for and named by The Sunday Times as one of the best places to work in 2023.
Author, executive coach and founder of The Mind And Soul Foundation.
CEO and co-founder of Resurgo.
Trainer, coach, facilitator and founder of Limpid Learning.
Elite performance expert, keynote speaker, ex-rugby league captain and founder of Mantality.
Executive coach and strategy adviser, founder and CEO of Juliet Corbett Coaching and host of The Independent School podcast.
Former Royal Marine, speaker and director of Leadership Forces.
Serial entrepreneur, executive coach, leadership consultant and host of the Alongsider podcast.
