Kelly speaks with Harvard professor, Margaret Andrews, about her new book which was inspired by her most popular class. Enjoy as they discuss the principles of leadership and her new book “Manage Yourself to Lead Others: Why Great Leadership Begins with Self-Understanding.” 

You talk about a lot of bad leaders in this book, but you also talk about good leaders and one of them is a boss you had named Mike. What made Mike a good boss? 

“What made him a good boss – and I say this as I don’t think he ever took a leadership class in his life – but he is a literary scholar. And I remember he told me one time that really good authors are good authors because they understand the human condition and they understand human emotion. And he said that’s what leadership is; it is understanding people and how they operate. And I’ve always sort of hung onto that, and it keeps coming back to me over time. But, you know, he was somebody who never liked meetings. He would literally walk around every morning. He would walk around the office, and he would just come into your office and talk to you. And it was all very casual. right? He knew everybody. He knew their names. He knew if they had kids, the names of those kids.” 

We have a phrase we use at Second City when a director is giving notes to the cast that you just take the effing note. You don’t have to agree with the note, but don’t fight it. 

“Yes. Well, that’s true. Not just in improv, right?  I think that’s true with all feedback. You know, I oftentimes ask people to think about what feedback they’ve received, and I say, pay close attention to feedback you disagreed with and also feedback that surprised you, right? Cause they’re oftentimes in that same vein. There’s that old adage that feedback is a gift. And gifts can come in ugly packages. It doesn’t mean that they’re not valuable gifts, but they can be ugly. And I think a lot of times the ones that surprise or we disagree with are the effing notes. Those are the ones that you want to push back on. But it’s that gift of a perspective that you didn’t have. Somebody is seeing something, and you can internalize it later and say, do I agree with this? Let me think more about it.” 

You write in the book, ‘Leadership emerges from our life story and our unique portfolio of experiences, influences, ways of thinking, values, and ambitions.’ I like that it because it speaks to all the tools we have at our disposal as a leader. 

“Yeah, yes, absolutely. And I think there’s a Zen saying that says, ‘Wherever you go, there you are.’ Right. And I think, yes, wherever you go, there you are. And so is all of your past. Right? Because you bring that with you. And so, I think that is one of the most important things is really to understand your own backstory and how your own backstory is not always back: you bring it with you.”