In opinion of John O'Keeffe, Managing Director of Diageo Russia and Eastern Europe Hub, when a leader surrounds himself with people who are stronger than he, it help him to build a successful business. The other strong competency that he possess is curiosity and John even call it a fantastic trait.
1. Could you name your strongest leadership competency?
First of all I try to surround myself with people who are smarter and stronger than me, people who are analytically smarter and also from the IQ point of view better than me. And I see my role in trying to get the best out of them both as out the individuals and actually at the collective team level.
2. Could you be more specific about the way you're doing it?
There're number of ways I can do it. First of all it's about creating conditions where people can be more successful. I think you have to build context for people why you are asking them to do what they're doing, what the business is trying to achieve and what role they're playing in that. You need to build alignment down the organization all the way from the director to the receptionist. They need to know what is their role in trying to achieve the overall goals of the company. You need to role model the right things. Ultimately the most important thing that I try to do in creating the right conditions for people to be successful is to get to know my people really well. To know what makes them tick. I think there're two levels: the first level is knowing people and knowing my team - their family, what their interests are outside of work, their birthdays, their sports. And it surprises me how few managers even know that level of detail about their people. But there's a second, a much deeper level which I try to go to, and that's really understanding the psychological profile in many ways, what makes people tick, what's their value system, what drives them, what's their purpose in life. And very often it can be more than just work. People have lives that are even more important outside of work. And I think that by only knowing your people really well, you can get the best out of them. And you can show them that you're behind their success. And in my experience once you've done that people will walk through walls for you.
3. Could you share any example from your personal experience?
When I worked in Greece, I was the marketing director for Johnnie Walker across Europe based in Athens. I had an HR manager, a mid-level one, he was very smart, very good at one-to-one interaction, he was functionally very strong. But the only thing he wasn't good at was team meetings. He got intimidated, he was very quiet, he didn't contribute in a big setting. And I gave him feedback the way I'd have liked to get the feedback myself, I told him that he needed to contribute in big meetings, when he was interacting with headquarters, giving his point of view and sharing his knowledge. Three months later there was no difference in his behavior, my feedback hasn't registered at all. But during that three months I really got to know him better, I got to know what he's all about - he was about being in service to others, he was always trying to help other people. That was, probably, one of the reasons why he was a great HR manager. The other thing that I learned about him was that in life he put a lot of emphasis on fairness, it was a really big value for him. And when I learned this I reframed my feedback, and one day I told him that I thought that he was unfair to people, and he reacted immediately. That was kind of touching a nerve for him. I explained him, why I thought he was unfair: at team meetings he wasn't sharing his insights, his thoughts with the team and was not explaining people how they could be better, how they could perform better . And as I framed the feedback that way, he responded much better. And by getting to know him better, I was able to position the feedback in a way that it was relevant to him. I think one of the most common mistakes the leaders make is assuming that people see the world through the same glasses as I wear. And, of course, everything is different, and only by knowing the differences you can get the best out of your people.
4. How did you shape your curiosity towards people and leadership style?
Curiosity is a fantastic trait. I've been shaped to by marketing background. I spent most of my formative years functionally in marketing being curious about consumers: why did they buy, why do they think what they think, what do certain people think about brands. I spent a lot of my professional life asking questions, trying to dismantle things in order to make our brands stronger. Every brand is about emotional attributes at the end of the day. And I suppose my natural curiosity from my childhood just got furthered by my professional training in being a marketer.
As to the leadership style I initially spent a lot of time leading from the front, and the feedback was like I didn't give enough space to other people because I tried to be the best in many things. But by hanging back a bit and giving more space to other people in your team you can become a stronger leader. So leading from the front and leading by example all the time isn't always necessarily the best thing for growing your people.
5. What helps you to give space to others?
Although I have to say that it's very difficult, I have openings in everything, and when someone asks me a question I find it very hard not to give an answer. So standing back and not trying to do everything yourself is an ongoing piece of my own leadership journey. It's complicated to build brands and it's complicated to try to get the best out o your people. But I do think curiosity tends to be at the heart. I do think that knowing your people so well that you can have conversations with them in a way that it's more relevant for them is very important.
