Tim Elmore: The Eight Paradoxes of Great Leadership
Dr. Tim Elmore is the founder and CEO of Growing Leaders, an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization created to develop emerging leaders. Since founding Growing Leaders, Elmore has spoken to more than 500,000 students, faculty, and staff on hundreds of campuses across the country. Elmore has also provided leadership training and resources for multiple athletic programs, including the University of Texas, the University of Miami, the University of Alabama, The Ohio State University, and the Kansas City Royals Baseball team. Tim's expertise on emerging generations and generational diversity in the workplace has led to media coverage in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes.com, and more. Highlights:“I needed to develop off-the-platform charisma.” [6:20] Tim shared a story of one of his first criticisms and pointed to the importance of being authentic and ‘on’ all of the time.“When we are on a platform speaking to a group of people, as the leader, if we will pull back the curtain and share a window to our own soul – maybe even our own struggle – we provide a mirror for them to see their own. We give them a window, they see a mirror.”[9:35] Tim discussed the importance of letting people see the authentic, true you. In a world of alpha males, some may mistake this openness for weakness. But when you allow people to see your genuine self, they feel inspired. They see themselves, and can improve their own lives.“Great leaders are both confident and humble,” [14:25] Tim says. This is one of the paradoxes of leadership. How can we balance both confidence and humility? Tim shares a story about Disney that shows exactly how it’s done.“Confidence makes our leadership believable but humility makes our confidence believable” [15:30] This quote from Tim really spoke volumes. When leading, you need confidence – but your team also needs to buy into your vision. Carrying yourself with humility is the way to make that happen.“I want to speak like I believe I’m right and listen as if I believe I’m wrong.” [25:00] Tim says he’s currently working on this one, and discusses it along with other leadership paradoxes.“We have to kind of lean on our employees and relinquish the control and the idea that ‘I have all the answers and I’m smarter’, because there might be smarter people in the room,” [27:30] Marcel pointed out, discussing the importance of recognizing your own weaknesses.“I’m challenging you to be a follower while being a leader… I think I’ve identified in all my team members what they do better than me.” [28:50] Tim went on to expound on this point – it’s critical that we empower people to do what they do best.“Feeling heard is so close to feeling loved that it’s almost indistinguishable.” [45:30] Tim talked about the importance of feeling heard in an organization.[48:35] Context, Application, and Belief. We ended on the importance of these three things. Those three things are what everyone needs, and can be described by another term, too: Love in Action.Resources:Marcel Schwantes: www.Marcelschwantes.comTim Elmore: www.timelmore.comGrowing Leaders: www.growingleaders.comTim Elmore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drtimelmore/Tim Elmore on Twitter: https://twitter.com/timelmoreTim Elmore on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothyelmore/detail/recent-activity/