Hi there. In the last lecture, we looked at the importance of self awareness. And, you know, the note said, the Stanford Graduate Advisory Council reckons it's the single biggest thing that leaders need to develop. That heightened sense of self awareness. And Bev James talked about why she thought that was such an important attribute future develop, and in turn, offer some suggestions around how you can live your values better at both at work, and away from work so that the whole idea of self awareness is really important. In addition, once you become more self aware, it's then about saying, Well, how can I actually become a more empowering leader, as I referred to in the introductory section, talked a lot about the fact removing from this command and control sort of the Leadership struck style to one where it's about empowering engage before we now move into this, this this new realm of becoming an organic leader.

So I want to just focus on what are the attributes, the characteristics of what empowering leaders actually do differently from what a traditional, if you like command and control style, leave your mind to it because it's different. And it starts with treating others as equals. So instead of seeing yourself as the boss and the others as your your subordinates, it's actually saying we're all here. In a more egalitarian sense, I have a different role to play as a leader. But that doesn't mean I'm going to actually treat you with less respect or as an equal when it comes to having conversation about what our organizations do differently. Right, empowering leaders treat others as equals.

They're also very active listeners. So rather than They're telling everybody else what they need to do. They listen. And they don't just listen in a in an attentive way they actively listen to hear what people are saying. And then take those that feedback on board and use that to inform their own opinion about what they need to be doing differently to become a more effective leader. When people feel they're being heard.

They'll be far more likely to follow and be motivated to continue to persevere in their roles under whatever challenging circumstances there may be. They also as part of that listening, active, listening, active process, they learn from people, so they don't see themselves as a no at all. an empowering leader is someone who says I know what I know. But I also know what i what i don't know. And I want to learn from other people so that I can in turn, do my job more effectively. They're very, very good at sharing Their life stories, because their life stories if you think about leadership in the old sense, people sitting around the campfire, if you like, they're sharing stories.

Great leaders know how to tell stories about their lives in a way that is inspiring. And also authentic, and in some ways can be humbling for the leader because some of the stories may be what they learned that they weren't doing well they needed to improve on in that story becomes symbolic for what they hope other people can do as well. And finally, empowering leaders are really good at getting everybody to align around what the organization's mission is. So it's not just about getting people to follow what you're saying, because you've said that that's what you want to do, but it's actually creating a level of enthusiasm, understanding, commitment to and that's captured in the word lawn that we want to everyone to be heading into direction, not because we told them to do it, but because they want to move in that direction that they are aligned with our mission and our vision and our role in the world.

So that's what empowering leaders do differently to command and control leaders. Look forward to seeing you in the next lecture to talk about what it takes to be an authentic leader.