In a recentlivestream, Changing Your Leadership: Opportunity for Professional Growth, MIT Sloan Executive Education Senior Lecturer Court Chilton interviewed John Rex, expert in leadership, an executive coach, and former CFO of Microsoft North America. During the session, Rex covered firsthand accounts of leaders implementing change, understanding your core values, overcoming imposter syndrome, and many more leadership topics. Rex also explains how meditation can be used to solve challenges senior leaders face in their organizations today.
Coming from the world of income statements and balance sheets, John Rex discovered that he loved building high-performing teams and creating cultures where people can thrive. After a life-changing moment five years ago, he decided to ditch his corporate career and pursue executive coaching.
Many topics related to leadership were covered during the hour-long session, which can be viewed here.
Here’s a few key takeaways from the event:
Don’t let yourself fall into a fixed mindset
When moving up the corporate ladder, there can be a decline in inquiry and empathy. More specifically, the decline in inquiry results in a fixed mindset that doesn’t foster growth. Every leader needs to take care of themselves and continue to grow, so it is important to continue to be curious at work.
Understand your core values and recognize others
It is important to understand your core values and your organization’s values. Likewise, you must understand the values of the people you lead so that you can adapt, recognize and honor their values. John explained, “When you have a clear, crisp understanding of your core values… you can continue to live those values through the hurricanes of life that come your way.”
Acquire healthy habits in three areas: physical, mental, and spiritual health
Every leader needs to take care of themselves. Self-care includes physical health, such as exercise and nutrition. Additionally, leaders must take care of their mental health. This includes reading books, nurturing curiosity, and listening to meaningful talks. During the session, Rex also highlighted a third element to take care of – spirituality. He makes it clear that spirituality does not necessarily equal religion for everyone, depending on their beliefs, but that spirituality is equally as important as mental and physical health.
Overcoming imposter syndrome
Many suffer from imposter syndrome in some degree. By nature, imposter syndrome is comparison and recognizing that many suffer from it can ease the feeling of being alone. Additionally, inequality in male-dominated fields puts an unbalanced burden on women which reflects itself as imposter syndrome. A few things to do to reduce imposter syndrome, Rex suggested, are as follows:
- Take time to write down your accomplishments in the past year
- Write down what qualifies you to do your role today
- Remember moments when someone compliments you and keep it in a journal
Meditate to silence inner critics
Mindfulness and meditation are ways to calm the negative talk within our brains. The practice of meditation is a way to stop the ‘inner critic’. Meditation can strengthen the muscle of awareness and allows for more perspective before making big decisions.
During this session, John Rex summarized ‘The Power Five’, leadership fundamentals that encompass the most impactful essentials over 25 years of leadership experience. Here are the frameworks he covered:
Cultivate awareness
Embrace your core values
Strive for confident curiosity
Develop response-ability
Leverage your range
“A leader has to challenge the status quo…by nature, change means disruption” Rex says, “when a leader is bringing about change, there is going to be disruption. That can be disorienting for some people. The leader’s responsibility is to give people a really clear picture of how the future is going to be compellingly better than the present when we follow the path of change.”
Want more access to faculty, coaches, and business leaders who can help you apply the latest management thinking and frameworks to your industry, company and professional challenges? The Advanced Management Program (AMP) at MIT is a month-long senior executive program designed for a diverse group of experienced leaders seeking transformative learning among global peers. Learn more: executive.mit.edu/amp.