In her SuperSoul Conversations podcast, Oprah discussed Compassionate Leadership with Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn. What’s his definition of leading with compassion? And how does it reflect in LinkedIn’s core values? Some highlights.
In my daily practice I notice oftentimes the transformation comes first. Which means the main focus is on the new structure, governance or processes. While it would be a great idea to lead by example, it is not an easy thing to do. When I heard this podcast I was curious: how does Jeff Weiner look at leading 10,000 people with intention, purpose and compassion?
Weiner states that it starts with leadership and extends to how you develop talent. Values reflect in the day to day decision making. As a leader, it is crucial to walk the talk yourself. A mistake often made by management: rolling out a culture of an organization and rolling out new values. That doesn’t work. It doesn’t resonate because employees will feel ‘This is not how you treat me. That is not why I see and not what I feel every day”.
That beautifully reflects what I regularly see in practice. Managers strive for transparency and creativity, but in practice lead by command and control. And exactly that could lead to an even bigger disconnect between managers and employees.
When leaders are capable of leading with compassion, the core values encourage connection. The core values of LinkedIn are:
- Members come first
- Relationships matter
- To be open, honest and constructive
- We demand excellence
- We expect people to act like owners
- Take intelligent risks
These values give the employees guidance in their daily work. Jeff Weiner states: “It starts with the leadership and extends to how you develop talent. How you evaluate your performance and constantly reinforcing that. When you do that, leading with compassion can become an amazing competitive advantage”.
Curious to know more? You can find the entire podcast here:
Essence of Change 