EP19 – Love, Leadership and Being Human at Work With Helena Clayton

On today’s show we’re speaking with Helena Clayton. Helena is a leader of leaders. In her practice as a leadership development consultant, Helena acts as a coach, thinking partner and critical friend for senior executives. While she brings a variety of researched-backed approaches to her conversations and interventions, what she ultimately does is help leaders have greater, positive influence by becoming better, more authentic versions of themselves. Her curiosity to explore what’s going on beneath the surface has exposed unfortunate reality that all-too-often businesses today are valuing efficiency at the expense of humanity. ---- I’m guessing you’ve had the experience of being online and engaged in something -- an article, video, blog whatever it might be...and from there you click on a related link and then another link and another link and suddenly you’re in a very different place and have no idea how you got there and kick yourself for wasting time. But sometimes you follow the rabbit hole and end up somewhere fascinating, that you didn’t know existed and it changes the way to see the world and what you want to experience. Recently I had that experience...a rabbit hole of links that led me to Helena Clayton. Helena is a leadership development expert and pioneer in looking at love as a leadership competency and the uncomfortable nature of dealing with human emotions in the workplace. This is a conversation that is needed more and more in our modern world of constant pressure, pace and relentless demands on the people to deliver the business results. Fundamentally, you can extract emotions from people and expect them to excel at work. We are emotional creatures in emotional times and the more leaders -- the more YOU learn to be comfortable, skillful and aware of how emotions shape the performance and productivity of people, the more you will emerge as a leader people want to be associated with. We explored a variety of truths and insights from Helena’s research and I encourage you to use this conversation as a catalyst for your own growth and understanding of your emotions and your relationship with love. Enjoy the conversation... Topics covered in this conversation: What’s needed from leaders in our modern world How the constant pressures, pace and demands people experience at work create a deep calling for more humanity How we tend to get uncomfortable and nervous with difficult conversations Helena’s research on Leading From Love and the counterintuitive truth of opening emotions in the workplace The power of vulnerability How human connection builds when you truly get to know the other person How to switch from the ‘inner critic’ to the ‘inner coach’ Practical steps to explore your relationship with love and how you lead