Leadership trainer Linton Sellen taught the Inclusion/IBEX leadership team that the role of a leader is to support the performance and well-being of others. He also made many comparisons between parenting and leadership.
Sellen’s point about performance and well-being is about striking a balance between caring about people unconditionally while still holding them accountable for their results. Many leaders see this as a contradiction and tend toward either being generally more supportive or generally more demanding. This is incorrect; the key is striking the right balance between the two approaches.
Bestselling author Daniel Pink recently created a 144-second video that does a lot in a very short period of time:
As a leader, I struggle with the paradox of being supportive while still demanding the best from people. I am always looking for new insight on how to best balance these things and Pink has delivered a great bit of wisdom on the subject.
Watch the video. It is worth the 144 seconds.