Great Leadership does exist - just keep your eyes open

I recently finished reading the book "Weology" by Peter Aceto and Justin Kingsley. In this book, Peter shares examples of his leadership at ING in Canada and how they could re-think how a bank can look like - think coffees instead of bank branches. There are many takeaways from the book, i.e. when asking your customer for feedback, to also be careful - customers will only tell you what they already know. For example, very early in their journey to a new way of banking, customers were quick to request branches back, as this was what they knew.

But he also shared other excellent insights like "you will make mistakes, it will make a difference on how you react to them" or how as a leader, you do not want to wait for surveys or reviews to find out how people in your organization are feeling. And will surveys anyhow reveal what people talk about?

That one thing that really stood out to me, though, was an example he shared where he, as a CEO, would spend time in the call centre once a week to be close to his customers, know about their challenges, get feedback, but at the same time spend time with his employees. 

This made total sense to me - what better way to connect to your customers and employees than to interact with them.

I was utterly amazed by this, but also, I'm pretty aware that I usually very quickly get excited about things I read in a book only to realize many times that many stories are "polished" to make them sound better in a book.

So this time, I thought I would myself look around for examples of leadership being close to the customers and their employees.

Not so difficult after all

And actually, it was much easier than I expected it to be. I was very fortunate to spend some time off the last couple of weeks, and as usual, we started our vacation in one of our favourite spots in the lovely region of South Tyrol. It always is a perfect starting point whenever I want to recharge batteries. My partner and I stayed in our favourite hotel, the Silena Soulful hotel. 

The hotel is being run by Magdalena and Simon, who are also the patrons of the hotel's name and, at the same, the owners of it. They took it over from their parents (who still work in the hotel) and completely remodelled it to a very outstanding and, for the region, unusual look.

And after sitting down for the first dinner, I had my example for leadership right in front of me (and funny enough, it was never different in this hotel). 

You wouldn't notice, but Simon, one of the co-founders, is part of the serving team. He does precisely what all the other employees are doing - taking orders, chatting with customers, serving plates, cleaning up plates from your table. Always with a smile (you even see it with him having a mask on) on his face and always up for a chat. The thing is, as a new guest, you wouldn't notice that the co-owner just served you. He is dressed in the same way everyone else is. There is no difference in appearance, in the kind of service you receive, and in the tasks he performs. 

And even though it seems like a small thing, you feel it throughout the experience in this hotel. Every employee seems to have the autonomy to make decisions; no, "I have to check with my supervisor" or anything slightly related to this. I think what I see is what we often call "leading by example" and "employees will follow the culture and behaviour, leadership models."

And this is performed by everyone in a "leadership role" at this hotel - you often see Simons and Magdalena's mother filling up the buffet, helping out in the kitchen or greeting guests at the reception - just like every other employee at the reception. Throughout the stay, you frequently get asked for feedback, needs or support. And as a receiving customer, you feel like you are being valued very highly, and it also feels very authentic (which I appreciate so much). At the same time, I'm sure they receive much feedback from customers on improving the customer experience further. So I'm pretty confident that the working culture is a healthy one. 

A small detail like a sign saying "best team in the world" whenever you as a guest pass the window where you can look into the kitchen is just a tiny detail. 

What I took out of this

After this observing experience, I'm pretty sure that there are plenty more examples of this kind of leadership, and in my humble opinion, this is precisely the way forward. I'm not quite sure if this is the "walk the talk" way we often refer to in business context, and I would rather see it as a humankind of leadership where people follow you due to your behaviour, due to the way you show up every day and not due to a title you hold. And I think this will be the real game-changer in the future. We already see many things trending towards the importance of the topic, and I do not believe there is a way back. And I certainly hope to see more of it going forward. But, at the same time, we all can be that difference, as we all lead in something - be it your personal life, business, team, department etc. 

So do not wait for others, and start with yourself - this is the best starting point anyway.

And to finish with a lovely quote by Michel de Montaigne

"I do not care so much what I am to others as I care what I am to myself."