Ep 84: Herminia Ibarra: Act Like a Leader
"Most of us have networks that are much narrower than the ones we need."
Herminia Ibarra
Herminia Ibarra is the Charles Handy Professor of Organizational Behavior at London Business School. Before that she was on the faculty at INSEAD and the Harvard Business School. She is a judge for the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award, a member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network, and recognized by Thinkers 50 among the most influential management thinkers in the world. Her book Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader explains how to step up to a bigger leadership role. Her best-selling Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career describes how people reinvent their careers. Ibarra, who received her M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University, where she was a National Science Fellow, is a master educator and world-renowned scholar whose advice is sought by many organizations.
Stew and Herminia, who go way back to grad school days, discuss the essentials in Act Like a Leader and the many ways one can cultivate and use a broad and diverse network to enhance one’s career and leadership skills. Ibarra contrasts this with what she calls the tendency many of us have to be narcissistic and lazy when it comes to growing the ongoing social support everyone needs to succeed as a leader. They talk about practical matters, like how to make bite- sized requests commensurate with the status of the relationship and how to expand your network outside of your immediate circle -- even if it’s uncomfortable to do so.
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