What’s Your Leadership Language? | Rosita Najmi | TED

Summary

The speaker, an Iranian refugee with a global background, shares their journey of discovering leadership languages in business school, emphasizing the importance of adapting to different organizational cultures. They recount their experiences in various sectors, highlighting the value of multilingual leaders who can fluently communicate across corporate, nonprofit, and public policy realms. Through a study on impact investing funds, the speaker reveals that successful funds are led by leaders who can speak the languages of multiple sectors, advocating for leaders to focus on learning these languages rather than fixating on a single leadership style.

Takeaways

• 🌐 The speaker, despite being multilingual and having a diverse background, found themselves challenged by the unique 'language' of business school, which included jargon from various sectors.
• 🏫 Business school taught the speaker that leadership is not just about styles but also about languages, emphasizing the importance of being able to communicate effectively across different organizational cultures.
• 🌱 The concept of 'multilingual leadership' emerged as a key to success, where leaders need to be fluent in the languages of various sectors to contribute and collaborate effectively.
• 🔍 The speaker's experience in West Africa with microfinance and a nonprofit organization highlighted the importance of collective action and creative advocacy.
• 📚 Through studying and working with leaders like General Colin Powell and Dr. Maya Angelou, the speaker concluded that there is no one-size-fits-all leadership style.
• 🗣️ The speaker suggests that leaders should adapt their leadership to the situation and the people involved, much like speaking different languages to communicate effectively with different groups.
• 🔄 A study sponsored by the speaker found that successful impact investing funds were led by 'multilingual leaders' who could navigate different sector perspectives.
• 💼 The study indicated that multilingual leaders are those who can describe their work using the terminologies of finance, nonprofit, philanthropy, and public policy.
• 🌟 The speaker proposes that leaders should focus on three critical topics that cut across sectors: data, climate, and power, and delve into how these sectors can collaborate on gender equality.
• 🌍 The public, private, and philanthropic sectors each have unique approaches to measuring impact and timing, yet they must collaborate to achieve common goals.
• 💡 The speaker concludes with the advice to focus on developing leadership languages rather than fixating on leadership styles, encouraging leaders to learn the languages of the sectors they wish to influence.

Q & A

What was the speaker's initial experience on the first day of business school?

The speaker felt overwhelmed and heard an 'alien language', which was a mix of jargon from various sectors such as corporate, nonprofit, international development, and public sectors.

What did the speaker learn about leadership in business school?

The speaker learned that leadership is not just about styles but also about languages, and that being multilingual in leadership languages allows one to communicate and contribute across different sectors.

What was the speaker's approach to leadership after studying various styles?

The speaker concluded that there is no single best type of leadership. Instead, leaders should adapt and personalize their leadership to suit the situation and the people involved.

What was the speaker's experience with General Colin Powell and Dr. Maya Angelou?

The speaker had the privilege of studying with and working alongside General Colin Powell and Dr. Maya Angelou, which likely influenced their views on leadership.

What was the main finding of the two-year study sponsored by the Omidyar Network?

The most successful funds were led by multilingual leaders who could communicate across corporate, nonprofit, philanthropic, and public policy perspectives.

What are the four industry languages that a multilingual leader should be conversant in according to the study?

The four industry languages are finance, nonprofit, government, and international development.

Why did the speaker find the study's findings on multilingual leadership surprising?

The speaker expected the success of funds to be tied to sophisticated financial modeling or complex analysis, not to the ability of leaders to communicate across different sectors.

What are the three topics the speaker suggests leaders should focus on?

Leaders should focus on data, climate, and power as these topics cut across different sectors and issues.

How can public sector leaders contribute to gender equality?

Public sector leaders can create equity through regulations and incentives, set goals for women in leadership positions, practice gender budgeting, and mandate paid care.

What is the speaker's advice to leaders regarding leadership styles and languages?

The speaker advises leaders not to worry about their leadership styles but to focus on learning and mastering the leadership languages needed to communicate effectively across different sectors.