Daniel Pink‘s latest irregular and irrelevant newsletter provided me with a cool resources to use. Its called ‘4Q4’ four questions for … you.
Here’s how he describes it:
Four questions that cut through the clutter and get to the heart of what the writer is trying to say and what it means for readers.
I like this and decided to try it out myself. So here are my 4Q4…
- What’s the Big Idea?
Our definition of leadership is wrong, workplaces are broken and its time for change. Too many people ‘hate’ their jobs and too many people are being damaged emotionally, mentally and physically at work. You should come away from the workplace in a better position than when you went in. Every person in the workplace have a role to play and therefore every person must step into leadership and create a better tomorrow.
- How do you know?
The state of the nation is showing us that things are broken and what we are doing now is wrong. There are more workplace stress claims, increased bullying and harassment complaints, people change jobs every 2-3 years generally siting a ‘bad boss’, family violence is prevalent, our expectations of our political ‘leaders’ is so low we except 5 Australian Prime Ministers in 5 years as fine or worse something to be joked about. The latest employee satisfaction surveys and engagement survey show that even after years of ‘leadership’ development, employees are still dissatisfied with the quality of their workplaces. The world is in a broken state and people are suffering.
- Why should you care?
This is the world that you are currently living in and its not one that you should accept for your children or your friends children. There must be a change and we must define ‘leadership’ in a different way. No longer can you accept people holding a manager position as holding the answers and the ‘authority’. You cannot wait until issued a management position on the organisational chart or an elected position in society before taking a big step forward and creating difference.
- What should I do?
You need to become a leader. A real leader, not a ‘I have a position on the org chart called manager/director so that means I’m a leader’. A real leader is someone who works hard on being the best version of themselves that they can be, they focus on being better today than yesterday, they learn today to make tomorrow better and they are human. Kindness and compassion are free so sprinkle that shit around everywhere.
So there you go… the big idea…. the why…
Now you try 🙂
Thank you Daniel Pink
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