8 Comments

Very good piece, Akash. I wish more leaders would not only read but actually practice the teachings in this post.

You mention in passing how you "benefitted from asking people to consider thinking from the other person’s perspective." I think this cannot be understated. I like to see it as building shared context through empathy. "Steelmanning" another person's argument is a deep show of respect, and creates perspective for ourselves that is otherwise simply inaccessible.

On that note, if you're not familiar with the framework yet, I recommend you check out polarity management. This video is a good primer on the topic: https://youtu.be/yyuFr4gTzjU?si=-yGTMPbQ6fAve5Ra

Expand full comment

Thank you for the kind words, Paulo. Glad you liked the post.

Empathy and openness in conflict can resolve them much quicker, however is very rare to see. I've read about polarity management but haven't checked out this video, thanks a lot for sharing the resource.

Expand full comment

I’ve noticed a lot of conflicts can be resolved easily if you show empathy and validate their idea/emotion before moving on to yours

Expand full comment

Absolutely. Being reasonable, open and listening first is the smallest change we could do to have the biggest impact.

Expand full comment

Love the "criticise idea not the person" part. Besides being kind, It's much more effective.

In my experience, people listen to advice more than criticism.

Expand full comment

Absolutely, glad it resonated with you.

This goes beyond traditional leadership and comes into play everyday. Irrespective of who you are, be empathetic. Every one of us makes mistakes, every one of us gets a bad idea from time to time. It's important to recognize the idea for what it is, not judge the person for their idea.

Expand full comment

Thank you for the mention, Akash! I appreciate it.

The "Criticize the Idea, not The Person" section reminded me of an interview about how Steve Jobs communicated criticism and negative feedback to his colleagues. Even though he often provided strong negative feedback, it was directed at an idea or a prototype, not its creator. He tried to encourage the creator by trying again and producing a better result and reminding them that they had the potential to do it.

Expand full comment

Yes, ideas need to be refined, not the people. Doing opposite can have detrimental effects.

I've shared what I used to do at my previous workplace to ensure we have a good practice around sharing ideas, you might like it, check it out: https://www.leadership-letters.com/p/crap-bag-of-ideas

Expand full comment