tl;dr:"The problem isn't that you're too busy. If you view being busy as the problem, there's no solution. You will always be too busy, and that'll never change." The problem is that "you're acting like a firefighter instead of a fire marshal. You're rushing from one fire to the next, never slowing down to install smoke detectors" and, likely, "you're really good at fighting fires."
tl;dr:The impulse to pretend that nothing has happened is understandable, it carries a cost: You may actually heighten your embarrassment and distress. Instead, by acknowledging and addressing your embarrassment, you: (1) Diminish your embarrassment and the resulting distress. (2) Clarify the situation, restore consistency to your self-presentation, and reduce others' anxiety. (3) Role model a productive response to unwelcome events.
tl;dr:A set of attitudes leaders display while enacting these two roles. A warrior's "purpose is overcoming resistance, where life is a series of battles," where a Sage's purpose is "learning and helping others learn, where, life is a series of mysteries to be studied." Ed notes that the Warrior's mindset becomes less useful as leaders grow more senior, and the Sage mindset increasingly important.
tl;dr:Questions worth asking when considering if a team is achieving full potential: What kind of team we are? Are the right people here? Does everyone know their role? How do we make decisions? Have we built a sense of cohesiveness? Do we know what effectiveness looks like? What happens when we disagree?
tl;dr:"The compass is a popular metaphor for leadership - we value its steadfastness and reliability. The weathervane symbolizes bad leadership - we're skeptical of leaders too easily swayed." The most effective leaders integrate aspects of both so the question isn't "what kind of leader should I be?" but "what kind of leadership is called for at this moment - and am I capable of summoning it?" Ed provides us with 30 questions to navigate this.
tl;dr:People are driven by 3 distinct needs: a need for achievement, need for power and need for affiliation, and Ed discusses how that plays into power dynamics at companies. "Effective leaders consistently get out of their comfort zone to experiment with new behaviors, especially when such efforts feel awkward or inauthentic." Something Ed encourages us to try.
tl;dr:For a leader to enable her team to be more effective, 3 conditions must be met: (1) Mutual trust amongst members. (2) A group identity i.e. members belong to a unique and worthwhile group. (3) Sense of group efficacy i.e. the belief that group members are more effective working together. At the heart of these is the ability to create awareness of emotions and regulate them, and Ed presents a framework of 14 questions, and a step-by-step process that allows a group to assess where they are collectively.
tl;dr:A common challenge for a leader it to express themselves effectively when dealing with the poor performance of an employee or team. The key is to convey the feeling, and evoke the right response, so the phrase "I'm disappointed" can be powerful. "It evokes an emotional response in employees, capturing their attention, and mobilizing them to take action, but it does not convey anger or generate distress."
tl;dr:When a leader is hiring a new manager, she often uses "voice or veto" for employees to assess candidates. In a "voice" process, employees have opportunities to assess the candidates at various stages & provide input. In a "veto" process the leader will not hire a candidate if employees object. The most common issue is that leaders don't clarify and communicate which strategy they're taking from the outset. Ed shows how to navigate this.
tl;dr:It's common to start meetings with a "check-in" to see how everyone's doing. Ed notes the benefits for the speaker, and also notes that attentively listening heightens the group's "commitment to be present" and "sets a tone to make subsequent discussions less frenetic and more productive." In other words, "your degree of presence correlates with your degree of efficiency."