Positive Leadership

Positive Leadership has the power to change the world. By focusing on trust, empathy and wellbeing, leaders can energize their teams to achieve success for individuals, their organization, and society overall. But it is still something that is relatively unknown outside academic circles. Join Jean-Philippe Courtois, a member of the Microsoft executive senior leadership team, as he brings Positive Leadership to life for anyone who acts in a leadership capacity, both personally and professionally. With help from his guests, Jean-Philippe will show you how purpose-led leaders can generate a positive energy that achieves commercial success, individual happiness and societal impact across a range of situations and sectors – from technology and social enterprise to sports and coffee. And most importantly, you’ll learn practical tips for applying it to your own life – so you can begin making a difference.

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Positive Leadership

9 Powers of Positive Leadership - Lesson 8: Finding Your Way Into Impact

April 17, 2024 • Jean-Philippe Courtois

It takes courage to stand for something, to go beyond yourself in service of people and the planet

In Lesson 8 of the 9 Powers of Positive Leadership, JP shares practical tips to help you develop your purpose mindset and find your way into impact from three positive leaders who know what this takes, Akhtar Badshah, Jacqueline Novogratz, and Indra Nooyi - listen now!

If you haven't listened already, you can catch up on JP's conversations with this week's featured guests in full here:

Akhtar Badshah: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1798971/9512920-activating-purpose-mindsets-with-akhtar-badshah
Jacqueline Novogratz: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1798971/14404175-building-a-better-world-together-with-jacqueline-novogratz
Indra Nooyi: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1798971/14002537-driving-performance-with-purpose-with-indra-nooyi

If you're looking for more insights on finding your way into impact, JP recommends listening to his conversations with:

Angeline Murimirwa: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1798971/14173700-unlocking-human-potential-through-mentorship-with-angeline-murimirwa
Rana Dajani: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1798971/12161222-thriving-through-reading-with-rana-dajani
Reshma Saujani: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1798971/12067940-the-power-of-bravery-with-reshma-saujani
Nandan Nilekani: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1798971/13663342-achieving-ambitious-goals-with-nandan-nilekani
And for French speakers, Élisabeth Moreno: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1798971/14085690-fr-realiser-l-impossible-avec-elisabeth-moreno

Subscribe now to JP's free monthly newsletter "Positive Leadership and You" on LinkedIn to transform your positive impact today: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/positive-leadership-you-6970390170017669121/

Jean-Philippe Courtois: Today more than ever, we need to stand for something. In her seminal book, Mindset: The Psychology of Success, professor Carol Dweck explains how by having across mindset, by taking on more challenges and learning new things, we can reach higher levels of achievement. Having a growth mindset is crucial for self-growth, but what's missing is going beyond ourselves and extending the benefits for the greater good. As positive leaders, we need to develop what's called a purpose mindset to enable us to optimize our lives to be fulfilled and in service to the people and the planet.

Akhtar Badshah: I believe that everybody has a purpose mindset.

Jean-Philippe Courtois: Akhtar Badshah is an expert on social impact and philanthropy. The first step to cultivate a purposeful mindset. Recognize your strengths.

Akhtar Badshah: So discover your strengths and work from your strengths.

Jean-Philippe Courtois: Start with your strengths. Always.

Akhtar Badshah: We all kind of focus on what is the problem. Yeah. Instead, look at the solution you want to seek.

Jean-Philippe Courtois: Yes.

Akhtar Badshah: The world that you want to live in and aspire to that and then work with your strengths.

Jean-Philippe Courtois: Shifting your focus to your strengths allows you to leverage your unique abilities and make a greater contribution. So you should emphasize personal growth in areas where you excel.

Akhtar Badshah: The second is have a lens of abundance. We always work through the frame of scarcity. I don't have this, but go do it. Stop. Start somewhere and it will snowball.

Jean-Philippe Courtois: Someone with an abundance mindset is more positive, empowered and confident. They've opened themselves up to a world of possibilities.

Akhtar Badshah: But it is not about doing things the right way. It is about doing the right thing.

Jean-Philippe Courtois: Doing things right is about following rules, policies, procedures and norms, whereas doing the right things is about aligning with your values in a moral compass.

Akhtar Badshah: The fourth is you should be creating movements, not organizations. Microsoft, I have never seen Microsoft as a company. I've seen Microsoft as a movement. The company is the vessel that propels that movement. But if you think of movements, then the skillset you need is not about managing. The skillset you need is about synchronization. And that's a very different skill set to have in an executive leadership team. You're no longer managing people. You're actually synchronizing the desires and pushing that so that it becomes a movement.

Jean-Philippe Courtois: Reshma Saujani is one positive leader I spoke to on the podcast who has built two movements, Girls Who Code, to help close the tech sector gender gap, and Moms First, a movement to get mothers the support they deserve.

Reshma Saujani: I build movements for telling other people's stories, and I think that that makes people feel seen and not alone, and that they want to be a part of it. I think the second piece is to make people feel like you can be a part of something that's really big change. So a culture that was like, we're teaching a million girls to code here, I mean, here it's like we're going to get paid leave in affordable childcare the next five years. So I think it's like people want big goals and big things to kind of dream about and move towards.

Jean-Philippe Courtois: Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of PepsiCo, is another leader who skillfully use the power of storytelling in a vision and personality to inspire and motivate those involved in the rollout of her program, Performance with Purpose, which focused on delivering long term growth by addressing environmental and social issues.

Indra Nooyi: To me, big transformational programs like the one we were embarked on, require you to have missionary zeal yourself as a CEO. You've got to get the message out. You've got to be visible, whether it's by video, whether it's in person. You've got to be the missionary.

Jean-Philippe Courtois: Effective leadership means starting with a deep understanding of the people you work with, allowing you to communicate in a way that resonates with them. And remember, getting buy-in for change takes work, especially when things are going well. The best way to do it is to make it personal.

Indra Nooyi: Don't talk to them about water shortage in India if you are in Bangkok. Talk about why Performance with Purpose is relevant to Thailand. Explain why it's relevant to Mexico City in Mexico. So, you've got to tailor that message for every country, every community. You're going to speak in with examples that touch their hearts. And so every time I was out there talking about Performance with Purpose, I would tailor the message. I would start broadly, but very quickly tailor the message to them so that they got it in their hearts. And many, very often I didn't have to continue. They would pick up where I left off and talk about why this was going to be so wonderful for their communities. Very often I didn't have to convince them they were convincing themselves and their people as to why this was the right thing to do.

Jean-Philippe Courtois: It's about empowering people in the frontline to come up with their own ideas and local initiatives to make a difference.

Indra Nooyi: Everybody thought this was their initiative, but they go home and talk about it proudly with their family and the kids.

Jean-Philippe Courtois: I'm Jean-Philippe Courtois you've been listening to Lesson Eight of the Nine Powers of Positive Leadership. To hear more inspiring insights from any of the people featured in this lesson, head to the archive where you can find over 70 full-length interviews and with transformational leaders including Jacqueline Novogratz, Paul Polman, and IKEA CEO Jesper Brodin.

If you've enjoyed this lesson then do leave us a comment and maybe a five star rating is really means a lot. And head over to my LinkedIn page, to subscribe to my monthly newsletter, Positive Leadership and You, which is packed with more practical information and tips. Thanks so much for listening. Goodbye.