#20: What Makes a Great Leader? (with Ron Ashkenas)

Leestijd:

min.

Reading time:

min.

[Alternatively, you can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.]

What is leadership, how is it different from management and what does it take to succeed as a leader in today’s virtual environment?

My guest on this episode is Ron Ashkenas, an executive coach and boardroom advisor with more than 35 years of experience in supporting leadership growth and organizational transformation. He’s a Partner Emeritus at Schaffer Consulting and the author or co-author of more than 100 articles and five books, including the ‘Harvard Business Review Leader’s Handbook’ and the ‘GE Work-Out’.

“It’s incredibly powerful when leaders accept and admit that they are not doing things perfectly.

— Ron Ashkenas

Check out the bonus episode on executive coaching!

In this bonus episode, Ron and I discuss his recent HBR article ‘Executive Coaches, Your Job is to Deliver Business Results’ and how it clashes with conventional wisdom in coaching. Is behavior-driven coaching a double leap of faith? When is executive coaching effective? And how is coaching different from business consultancy?

Listening Guide

This original conversation (Ep. 20) can be broken up in three parts:

In the first 10 minutes, Ron reflects on his experiences with former GE CEO Jack Welch: was he the best or the worst leader in corporate history?
In the second part, we discuss authentic leadership and the six practices you need to succeed as a leader.
In the final 15 minutes or so, we explore how leaders can lead effectively in today’s virtual environment.

Links relevant to the original and the bonus episode: