There are various things in the 2020 wishlist of leaders around the world, but the following are a few important ones –
Learn to sleep more
Bill Gates said in one of his tweets on 16th of December, 2019 that he has pulled all-nighters when he was young and working for his company Microsoft. But now he has realised that this habit has cost him and recommends to sleep more in order to avoid undercutting of creativity and productivity. His recommendations come from Matthew Walker’s book – Why We Sleep?
Limit your device usage to save time
Greg Orme the author of The Human Edge: How curiosity and creativity are your superpowers in the digital economy said that the devices/smartphones that we use are supposed to liberate us. It should not enslave us.
The way to go about limiting your usage is first scanning through all the mobile applications that you use. Delete all those applications which only waste your valuable time and doesn’t provide you with real happiness. Substitute the time saved from limiting the usage of such applications with meditation, online courses and reading books/articles.
Trust should be on your priority list
Professor Steven Van Belleghem, an expert in customer focus in the digital world and author of Customers The Day After Tomorrow says that it is becoming more and more difficult nowadays to trust people/companies with your personal and behavioural data. From deepfakes to data breaches and immoral use of PII (Personally Identifiable ) data is becoming a real threat to the trust and credibility of companies and important individuals. This year would be the time for companies to show their reliability and trustworthiness regarding the personal data usage of their customers. Failing at building trust in the eyes of the customer could bring an end to one’s business in 2020.
Learn to master neurodiversity
According to Mark Simmonds, author of Breakdown and Repair: A Father’s Tale of Stress and Success says that there are three things that a leader needs to do to understand, master and instil neurodiversity in their companies –
1. Identify the mental illnesses of their employees like – stress, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders etc.
2. Master emotional intelligence by trying your best to understand the thought process, feelings and what makes their employees tick and under what situations they become stressful.
3. Create a work environment where the employees feel at home and comfortable so that they can be the real self even while at work. This can help bring the best out of the employees.
While integrity, authenticity, and honesty are effective leadership qualities, at some point, leaders have to be successful in achieving goals. Authentic leaders, like mentioned in this article, possess the quality of persuading, encouraging and motivating others to follow their lead are adept at realizing their objectives.
Remember that being a good leader takes time. Although some individuals are naturally inclined to have good leadership skills, it is something anyone can learn and improve upon.
