Are You A Leader? Leadership Stereotypes Dismantled

Leadership author, columnist and company director Kirstin Ferguson says, “I truly believe we are all leaders, whether we lead our families, our business or our country.” 

In her new book, Head and Heart, she argues that despite history handing privileged men more formal leadership positions, we all have the potential to be great leaders. 

Whether people who work as a checkout operator at Woolies or the Prime Minister of a country, anyone can effectively step up to the plate and read what the room needs in critical moments.  

On today’s Briefing, we talk to Ms Ferguson to discover the eight attributes of being a modern, head and heart leader. And what is holding us back? 

Ms Ferguson says that society and the people now demand a different type of leadership.  

The kind we always thought of for the past centuries as the most senior person in the organisation with a formal title, position and authority. It’s just not fit for purpose anymore, and we want to see leaders understand that leading is actually a privilege, not an entitlement,”

Ms Ferguson said.

Ms Ferguson has collaborated with the Queensland University of Technology to conduct a survey designed to heighten people’s awareness of how they lead and allow them to compare their leadership approaches. 

Things like empathy, self-awareness, or humility, which have always been seen as soft skills, and we still hear that turn. I mean it’s absolutely rubbish because leading with humanity and empathy takes a huge amount of strength and courage,” she said. 

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