Cornerstones of a Responsible Leader

Yesterday I caught up with an old friend who resides in Cisco

Some of you might not even know what they do...

Many of you will know of Cisco as one of the world’s leading technology companies with a particular interest on communication and collaboration and intimately involved with the evolution of the Internet (but now into all sorts of products and services like phones and wireless ...rather different from the days of phones after you dialed and asked for the operator as in those black and white movies)

Either way - they are an international company who have massive influence on how we communicate these days.

Martin is responsible for the Asia-Pacific public sector consulting practice in Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group and provided his thoughts on responsible leadership.

I started with asking what Responsible Leadership means to Martin - personally.

After a couple deep breaths, Martin responded with a wealth of knowledge in 4 succinct elements...

"Responsible leadership sounds simple, though it is not. The most obvious response to 'Who is a Responsible Leader?' is the notion of people acting in ways that take account of their longer term consequences and outcomes of their actions."

Martin went on to explain his #4 cornerstone elements of a responsible leader...

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Cornerstone #1

Responsible leaders are not short term thinkers. They think about the sustainability and longer term impact of their actions

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Cornerstone #2

Responsible leaders are authentic. They exemplify openness, honesty and fair dealing

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Cornerstone #3

Responsible Leaders are consistent. They do what they say and say what they do

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Cornerstone #4

Responsible leaders manage to mix a strange mix of strong ego and humility.  They earn respect from those they engage with by acting often with an amazing absence of ego, which means they allow others around them to shine and grow.

How do you measure up with these cornerstones?

And let's add one more...

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Responsible Leaders are Present.

They care. They Listen. They interject and provide feedback that is encouraging