Leading in the Post-Pandemic World

Society changed forever with the coronavirus pandemic.  COVID-19 and its aftermath changed how we interact, how we prepare for future crises, how we value our personal time, and how we manage all of our organizations. The lockdowns brought Zoom and MS Teams to the forefront of business, education and society, a precursor to the rapid expansion of AI today. Our perspective is more global than ever because COVID knitted us altogether in 2020 under its dark cloud. The world of 2019 is gone forever.

However, the global pandemic did not change the basics of human leadership. In fact, the fundamentals of leadership are more important today than ever before. Even in a virtual hybrid ChatGPT kind of world, great leaders today still prioritize five basic activities to lead others to a better place.

LEAN INTO YOUR STRENGTHS

Our greatest individual value to society comes when we do what we do best every day. Know what you do well.  Do it to the best of your ability, thus reaching your fullest potential.  Find roles in life and work where you can love what you do every day. Stop dwelling on the talents you do not possess in abundance. Learn to manage those.  Instead, spend your time to grow your dominant talents into strengths. Discover and utilize your team members' strengths for greater cumulative success. Help your children find their talents so they also learn to be the best they can be.  Great leaders lead from their strengths and manage their weaknesses.

MASTER YOUR EMOTIONS

All emotions are normal and natural. How you use each emotion is a crucial learnable skill. Use your emotions wisely depending on the situation. Control your emotions without stifling them in an unhealthy way. Learn more about emotional intelligence, take an EQ assessment, and then grow your emotional skills. Some of the smartest people undermine their leadership when their emotions are out of control. Great leaders understand the power of EQ over IQ.

LEAD WITH PURPOSE

Everyone wants to know WHY they are asked to do something or believe something. Humans are wired that way. Inspire others with a compelling shared vision for the future.  Always be zealous for your personal credibility. In a post-pandemic world where trust of institutions is fading, people are desperate to follow credible leaders who know where they want to go, who mean what they say, and who do what they say they will do.  Be that person.  Great leaders inspire others to go with them to a better place.

LEARN LIFE BALANCE

Find your purpose outside of making a living. Aggressively care for your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. Encourage others to do the same. One of the most human leadership qualities is compassion. Embody that by caring for others’ wellbeing, but start with you. Great leaders care for themselves and actively encourage self-care in others.

BECOME MASSIVELY INCLUSIVE

Everyone is different.  Take pieces from everyone’s experiences, background, cultures, values, talents and perspectives. Use those pieces to create common success. Respect everyone as human beings, even when it is hard, even when not earned.  You too are imperfect, and we are all in this together.  Make yourself more agile and resilient by constantly learning, seeking new thought patterns and skills, and forging a fresh unbiased understanding of the world around you.  Great leaders embrace humanity with curiosity and without resistance.