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Be Wise, Be Nice :-)


A fascinating myth has been propagated for the longest time about nice guys finishing last. The idea is that being nice means being weak, nice equals naive and that being nice, especially in a leadership role, is a major roadblock to success and a recipe for disaster in the corporate world. 

Instead, one is repeatedly taught from a young age to relentlessly pursue power, and build authority without yielding an inch...

This type of control and command structure may have worked in a transactional space, where teams were mostly executing standardized activitites at scale and the Leader exerted authority through their position and subject matter expertize. 

Alas, the world is changing, and this could not be further from the truth now. With rapid changes in the rules of engagement at the workplace, growing "gig roles" across mainstream functions, decentralized / remote working roles, and never-before-seen levels of automation and disruption, there is really no place for the the archetypal control and command structure to hide.

Increasingly, teams nowadays are more localized and specialized than before, with varying degrees of autonomy. Therefore, Team members' needs and expectations from their leaders are also consderably different. Subject Matter Expertize is no longer a USP or a control lever. Information hoarding is no longer a power move. KM portals and other online tools have helped democratize knowledge to a consderable level. So, with the playing field being leveled, a leader is now required to engage and work their teams, rather than sit ahead of their teams. 

Being compassionate, considerate and sincere are not a weakness or "nice to have", these are rapidly growing to be the defining characteristics of an effective leader. These attributes are crticial building blocks to identify, nurture and cultivate rewarding relationships, within and beyond the teams. Positive relationships and networking are the biggest enablers of collaboration and success in the future.

So whether you a budding First Time Manager finding your feet leading people, a seasoned pro with decades of Corprate Management mileage, or somewhere in between, now is as good a time as ever to wise up and be nice :-)

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