The Leadership of NOW: Leading With Kindness

A tv -program on PBS about good leadership calls attention to companies of all sizes that succeed by practising good, human leadership. They prioritize openness, inclusion, encouragement and health for their employees, who in return are glad to reciprocate by giving all they've got for their workplace.

The most interesting example is the fashion company Eileen Ford. Instead of rewarding the staff with a raise, she gives them access to yoga, pilates and massage. This in turn leads to the employees being less stressed, healthier and thereby having less absence due to illness. I hope that this will be the norm at all work places in the very near future!

Another interesting example is Google. Here the employees are encouraged to take chances and risk failure, in contrast to the work principles of other big companies, such as Google's competitor Microsoft. This is not a principle uniquely used at Google, admittedly. The new and interesting element of Google's leadership methods is that they incite the staff to spend 20% of their work week on a project they are passionate about, and the rest of the time working on the tasks their boss tells them to work on. Not only does this boost motivation and loyalty; it also gives the management a higher quality of work and thereby a better return on investment on each employee.


The tv-program is based in the book "Leading With Kindness"