177: Margaret Andrews: Becoming the Leader Only You Can Be

Overview

Leadership is hard right now.

Maybe one of your intentions for this year is to grow as a leader. Maybe you’re questioning if you even want to be one.

As my guest today, Harvard instructor and leadership development expert Margaret Andrews, emphasizes, leadership is a choice. And it’s okay if it’s not the right choice for you right now. But for those who are opting in, it’s important to set our intentions so that we can focus our efforts on making work better for ourselves and those around us. Because that is what leadership calls us to do.

In our conversation, Margaret and I discuss why self-leadership is vital to then leading others, how to intentionally and sustainably cultivate new practices and behaviors, and why good leaders learn to embrace paradoxes and polarities.

Leadership doesn’t come from following a formula or fitting yourself into a box. This episode invites you to consider how to become the kind of leader only you can be.

Listen below or on your favorite podcast player.

More About Our Guest

Margaret Andrews is on a mission to improve the craft of leadership.

Starting her career as a CPA in San Francisco, she has also served as a marketing executive, a long-time strategy consultant, the Executive Director of the MBA Program at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and Associate Dean for Management Programs at Harvard University.

She currently teaches courses and executive programs at Harvard University including Managing Yourself and Leading Others, the most popular professional development program at Harvard, as well as Leading with Emotional Intelligence, and Creativity and Innovation, among others. Margaret founded The MYLO Center, a private leadership development firm, and Higher Ed Associates, a firm devoted to improving leadership capabilities at colleges and universities.

Margaret has an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley and did her graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why leaders need to embrace paradox and context in how they lead through different situations

• Why good leadership starts with self-understanding and being grounded in yourself

• How real self-management challenges us to evolve our behaviors to align with who and how we want to be

• Three questions to help you define the leader you want to be and the skills you’ll need to be that leader

• Simple methods to start getting unstuck and seeing situations more clearly

Learn more about Margaret Andrews:

• Website

• Connect on LinkedIn

Resources Mentioned

• Manage Yourself to Lead Others: Why Great Leadership Begins with Self-Understanding

• 165: Bree Groff on Making Work Fun 

• Today Was Fun: A Book About Work (Seriously) 

• 166: Zach Mercurio: The Power of Mattering at Work and in Life

• The Power of Mattering: How Leaders Can Create a Culture of Significance 

• 169: Wes Adams and Tamara Myles: Creating Meaningful Work in Every Job, Every Day

• Meaningful Work: How to Ignite Passion and Performance in Every Employee

Thanks for Listening!

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