In today’s episode I’m delighted to introduce Tom Kolditz, the founding Director of the Ann and John Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University. The Doerr Institute was recognised in 2019 as the top university leader development program by the Association of Leadership Educators and named the 4th Leader Development Program in the world by Global Gurus, London. 

He has been named as a leadership Thought Leader by the Leader to Leader Institute and as a Top Leader Development Professional by Leadership Excellence. In 2020, he has continued to be ranked in the global top 25 coaches and in 2021, the #6 Start-up expert worldwide.

He developed the concept of in extremis leadership—an original crisis leadership model—while serving in the oil fields and palace cities in Iraq. His book on that topic, In Extremis Leadership: Leading as if Your Life Depended On It, is used in at least 8 service academies in the US, China, Japan, and Israel. His second book, Leadership Reckoning: Can Higher Education Develop the Leaders We Need, is driving a leader development reform movement in higher education in collaboration with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.  

In today’s episode, Tom talks about:  

• How leadership is about giving people what they need
• How to build trust and respect as a leader and make your team want to follow you
• The importance of emotional intelligence in leadership
• The mistakes many leaders make when attempting to win the trust of those they serve.
• How to identify leaders in your organisation
• The importance of getting to know your people
• Why every leader needs feedback
• How actions speak much louder than words.
• The role that education today has claimed in developing leaders for the future.

Key Takeaway

“Leadership is about giving people what they need. It's not about the quality of an individual or a style. People don't care about style; they just have needs. You need to see the world through the eyes of your people to influence and motivate them and give them direction and purpose”.

About the Host   
Director and Founder of Simple Scaling, Brendan brings 25 years’ experience of scaling businesses. Previously, Brendan spent 16 years as a global business leader with CDE, 12 of those as Group MD, steering the company through the global financial crisis to considerable strategic growth success with offices now in 6 continents employing almost 700 people across the world (from 15) and 25X revenue growth.   

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-mcgurgan-11854a13/

https://simplescaling.com/meet-the-team