Lead with warmth, follow with competence

A few years ago I had the great privilege to participate in an Executive Education program at Harvard Business School. The inspirational Amy Cuddy was one of our professors.

Amy asked us an important question. 'Would you rather be liked, or be respected?' 

A lot of professional people will say that they'd rather be respected. Amy's message was that if people don't like you first, they won't respect you anyway. It's important to lead with warmth, then follow with competence.

It's easy to spend a lot of time getting your facts right in order to 'prove' a point. Getting the facts right is important, but people connect first as human beings and it's your human qualities that are essential for building trust. 

Only once that trust is established, will people be interested in what you have to say.

How are you leading with warmth?

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