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© Heinz Pearly Wokas
Description
Sketch an Angle is a podcast about leadership development.
Each week we share a thought or theory from an expert in this field that displays the art of leadership. We then sketch an angle by commenting or sharing our views on that topic with a hope that we can add value to you.
Each week we share a thought or theory from an expert in this field that displays the art of leadership. We then sketch an angle by commenting or sharing our views on that topic with a hope that we can add value to you.
59 Episodes
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1 Quality That You Have to Find Before You Hire a New Staff
One Thing You Have to Do When You Feel Like a Helpless Thinker
Many people in leadership positions have been promoted because of their technical skills, and because of their work in structured settings with organization-specific policies and procedures. However, once this leadership position has actually been achieved, leaders often find that it is not their technical knowledge that’s being challenged: it’s their attention and organizational skills. Their roles involve broader and more complex reliance on what is called the executive functions.
What is “executive function”? How is it applied in your leadership?
Delegating is a skill that a leader must improve continuously.
A leader or an organization can benefit from this practice if it is done properly.
In addition to empowering individuals in the company, delegating also improves team performance. The more people involved in project ownership, the more effective your organization will be.
So, what principles does a leader have to understand before he delegates tasks? What tools can he use to improve the outcome of delegation?
Sooner or later, a leader will face challenges, chaos, and crisis. Those situations will test his or her capacity as a leader.
Ronald Heifetz is a prominent name for this subject. He developed a theory known as adaptive leadership.
What’s interesting about this theory? What principles can we learn from it?
The sinking of the Titanic is one of the most famous news stories in the period of 1900-2000.
When this ship sank, many important lessons were learned which later became valuable lessons. For example, it was discovered that there were not enough lifeboats for all passengers, no safety training, and the loss of binoculars for supervisors at the viewing point on the ship's mast. But above all, Captain Smith's decision to speed up the ship's movement by ignoring the threat of an iceberg in the hope of reaching New York a day earlier.
Behind this great event, there were two lesser-known stories. When the Titanic sailed the North Atlantic on the night of April 14, 1912, there were also two other ships that sailed the North Atlantic: the Californian Ship and the Carpathia Ship.
What is interesting about the story of the two ships? What leadership lessons can we take from them?
When we see Mark Zuckerberg, we tend to see only his present achievements. We might not know that previously Zuckerberg was mentored by Steve Jobs. The other relationship like Zuckerberg and Jobs is Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Gates admits that over the years he has turned to Buffett for advice on various subjects.
What can we learn from them? They only show us how much mentorship means to them!
Do you feel like you need a mentor now? What types of mentors do you really need?
Ken Blanchard, in his classic work Lead Like Jesus, concludes that there are two groups of people who influence us as leaders: our family members and our leaders in organizations.
What makes them different is the permanence of the relationships involved.
From his observation, we can conclude that most of the time, those who influence us are our family members.
How do they influence us? Through their words and their actions.
Do you have any advice from your family members that you always remember? How does that advice influence you?
Ken Blanchard, in his classic work Lead Like Jesus, concludes that there are two groups of people who influence us as leaders: our family members and our leaders in organizations.
What makes them different is the permanence of the relationships involved.
From his observation, we can conclude that most of the time, those who influence us are our family members.
How do they influence us? Through their words and their actions.
Do you have any advice from your family members that you always remember? How does that advice influence you?
I read this statement a couple of times recently: “YouTube is a free university. You can learn anything you want; all you need is time and a learning attitude.”
When I think of that statement, I conclude that it is partially true.
Yes, we can find many information and skills on YouTube. But in order to maximize the result of your learning process, you have to do this one thing.
What is it? Why is it so crucial?
Most of us agree that doing a reflection is an essential practice. So, if you haven’t found any reason why you need to do this, the following conclusion from John Maxwell might stimulate you. Maxwell said, “Experience is not the best teacher. Evaluated experience is.”
When we evaluate our experience, we gain more wisdom.
However, in our experience, when we have made a commitment to have a weekly reflection, we often fail to maximize it. Why? It’s because we fail to develop a system and formulate the essential questions.
So, what are the essential questions that you should ask in your weekly reflection?
Critical thinking is no longer an exclusive term. We read this term in articles and books. We see it in social media posts. We even use it in our daily conversations.
World Economic Forum in their release included critical thinking in the top 10 skills of 2025. Since 2016, WEF had put critical thinking on the list of skills that employers believe would grow significantly.
But, what is critical thinking all about? What is at the heart of it?
Jeff Bezos is widely known as the founder of Amazon.com.
His successful business ventures have made him one of the richest people in the world. In 2021, his net worth is $195 billion.
In September 2018, during a session at the Economic Club of Washington, he shared one major event that took place in his junior year at Princeton that changed the course of his life.
What was it? What lesson can we learn from it?
What comes to mind when you think of the word “routine”?
Some would say “boring”. For others, routines tend to be seen as negative.
However, when adequately developed and consistently examined, routines can give proven, repeatable, and predictable results. Our routines, like the habits we develop, can be powerful.
Now, before you find ways to reinforce the routines that have served you well or improve the others that are less effective, what considerations do you need to have?
As leaders, we have to admit that disagreeing with others is something that we do not learn intentionally. We assume that we can disagree, and everything will be okay. But in reality, it does not work that way.
In fact, many conflicts start with a simple disagreement.
So, when two people disagree, what can they do to resolve it?
A leader always carries his biases and assumptions in his leadership. One example is it affects his decisions when choosing his teammates. As a result, he will see his team differently.
How should a leader deal with his biases and assumptions? How should he correct his views to create an inclusive, winning team?
According to INSEAD's latest global study of 300 senior business leaders from industries ranging from hospitality to automotive to biotech, 61% are trying to balance their employees' need for support with their company's goal for high performance. As a result, many leaders have fallen into the trap of viewing compassion vs performance as a binary decision. While most of us believe that true leadership requires both compassion and responsibility, this finding shows that demonstrating this type of leadership is more difficult than ever.
What should leaders do to avoid falling into this trap?
What comes to mind when you think of Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Barack Obama, or President Soekarno?
Do you think of their achievements or accomplishments? Or perhaps their influence?
For me, their similarity is they are great storytellers.
Through the stories they tell, people start to align with their visions. These leaders use stories to inspire their followers. And they are so good at it.
How do we develop this important skill? And how do we utilize this powerful tool effectively?
Dreamforce is Salesforce’s annual marketing event for all big tech companies to showcase their products. Companies like Microsoft and Apple also take part in this important event. In 2015, Satya Nadella, a newly appointed CEO of Microsoft, was scheduled to be one of the keynote speakers. His session was one of the most anticipated sessions.
And as predicted. Not only did he get a warm welcome from all the participants, but also his presentation is still remembered until today. From his presentation, Nadella paved a new way for Microsoft.
What did Nadella do in that session? What valuable lesson can we learn from this story?
On February 4, 2014, Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft, the third person to hold the office in the company’s nearly 40-year history, after company co-founders Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
One of Nadella’s first major tasks was overseeing the completion of Microsoft’s $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia Corp.’s mobile-device business, a transaction that had been announced in 2013.
As a relatively old company, founded on April 4, 1975, Microsoft faced many unresolved challenges when Nadella took office. One of them was the company’s culture.
What was his plan to bring the company’s soul back? What lesson can we learn from this process?
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