Can you learn leadership skills

People often think that means lowering consideration for the task. You have to be task focused. You have to be driven to produce the software, solve the engineering problem, get the details done. You solve that by raising your consideration for the people involved so that it is higher than that task focus. And that kind of broad background is helpful. Do you agree? This whole notion of assuming positive intent assumes that each person is pursuing a course that makes sense from their point of view.

Knowledge Wharton: Drawing on your time at Aetna, you wrote about some of the issues in the health care sector. I think that is as challenging as anything we have out there right now. Williams: It certainly is. That was a very important population. But we still have a lot of work to do to make certain that people have access to coverage that everyone can afford.

The answer is really continuing to digitize, continuing to use analytics, eliminating waste in the health care system and helping those individuals who have chronic conditions do a better job of managing their conditions, improving their quality of their life and decreasing the costs of care for them. No one would build a system that works the way our health care does in the U. But changes to the system have to take into account the cultural context of the U.

What works in the U. We have a different culture. We have different traditions. We need market-based solutions that do, in fact, improve the affordability of the system. Knowledge Wharton: Will the concept of leadership evolve as we go forward or will the core principles remain?

Williams: Leadership will continue to evolve. In my book, I talk about leading yourself, leading others and leading organizations.

What would increased proactivity in identifying and solving problems look like in practice? Ground yourself with an intention. You commit to learning to support proactive behaviors. Whenever you meet with team members, you call this intention to mind so that it functions like a beacon to guide you, keep you on course, and prevent you from sliding back into your habit of jumping in with the answer if no one else comes forward right away.

Choose behaviors to implement. Seek feedback. Ask them to let you know whenever you do something that either hurts or helps. Based on this feedback, commit to refrain from criticizing ideas and instead ask team members to assess the pros and cons of each idea. Review and celebrate progress. Resisting the developmental journey of leadership is like flying to an exciting locale, but then spending your whole time there in the airport bar.

On the other hand, interest in and commitment to continuous learning and development as a leader will keep you fresh and vital. So, can a great leader be developed or were they always built for leadership?

What About Team Working Abilities? Finally, Are Creativity and Innovation Innate? Mobley introduced six insights : Traditional teaching methods don't guarantee improvements in creativity.

Creativity about unlearning, rather than learning. We only learn to become creative people through action and subsequent transformative experience. We learn creativity from other creative people. Take note of what other creatives do and how they think. You must overcome your internal biases through self-knowledge.

You must fail. You can't be afraid to fail in the pursuit of creativity. There are no wrong ideas, just ideas that move you closer to the right one. Every success, Graham. Learn leadership by doing the hard work in the trenches — by following and leading at the same time. You may not be aware of this, but if you are like most busy professionals who belong to a team of at least 2 people, you are already spending more time leading than learning.

According to research , stepping out of your normal work routine to join other professionals in training — people with different perspectives and values to offer — helps you think critically and learn more deeply about your own leadership experience.

Taking ownership of your leadership-development through training helps you build the competence to lead authentically and effectively. Whatever qualifications or credentials a teacher or an MBA program may have, no one has more insight into your leadership ambition than you. By signing up to our mailing list, you will receive up to date information on the latest relevant training courses, Konnect Learning scheduling information, news and offers.

Skip to content.