No brilliant jerks allowed.
I was extremely nervous to meet Arianna Huffington. This was a woman I had admired for years and to be honest, I didn’t want to be disappointed. I’ve learned that not every well-known personality is the same in-person as you see them on stage or in interviews.
Welcoming a well-known speaker to meet a client for a sit-down recorded conversation happened a few times in the last ten years. They were strategic opportunities I created to support the development of the leadership brand of my CEO clients.
As Arianna, her team and I walked from one area of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to the private event where my client would interview her before a small audience, I was struck by how natural it felt to talk to her. I valued her kindness and told her as much.
One of the most impressive things about her is her authenticity — she was consistent across the board. The same person on stage, behind the stage, on our walk and on the numerous videos I watched to prepare my client Peter for the conversation he would have with her. She was generous with her time, down to earth, she noticed, with great detail, everything and everyone. She was more than what Peter and I had hoped she would be for the event.
It is rare to meet such a combination: kind, consistent, authentic, successful. But when you do, people like Arianna Huffington are quite impactful.
Like one of my mentors whom I’ve known since my late twenties. Mike knows who he is, who he wants to be and to this day is not afraid to be exactly that. I keep a copy of the corporate bio he wrote then because of how radical it was. In a few words, Mike talked more of his principles and values and very little of his accomplishments, which on their own were quite impressive as Chief Marketing Officer and previously, Lieutenant Officer in the Royal Canadian Navy.
Mike flipped the script. He put his values front and centre, and led from them every day. By doing so, he planted a seed of the impact of authenticity in the workplace.
By knowing who they are and consistently being exactly that, leaders like Mike, Arianna and a few others I’ve been so lucky to work with gave me permission to be myself. Whether they know it or not, they powerfully impacted my life. They showed me that you can be kind, you can be yourself and you can be remarkably successful. And I’ve been on a mission ever since to create more of that combination for myself and for others — particularly in my leadership coaching practice where I help leaders remove the blind spots that get in the way of the positive impact they can have on their teams and their business.
Arianna Huffington runs Thrive Global, valued at $130+ million, with a specific policy called “no brilliant jerks allowed,” a policy that has now been adopted by Netflix. Arianna says: “Don’t hire someone who delivers results but has a toxic impact on the culture. It will come at a very high cost.”
Whether you know it or not, who you are being as a leader is impacting your reputation, your people and the bottom line of your business.
Are you aware of your impact?
