Most inventories of desirable leadership characteristics will place "good listener" near the top. Good listening helps leaders to understand, empathize, and engage their team members and employees. Good listening builds rapport and trust; it invariably improves the relationship. Listening is not a warm-and-fuzzy competence: it’s an essential skill-set that yields significant results.

Listening as an Ally™ Case Study

If you've had a chance to read the white paper on Leading in the Collaborative Organization, you know the benefits of adopting a collaborative approach to leadership. This podcast dispels four common myths about collaboration that may be holding you back from reaping the benefits of a collaborative approach.

Trust describes an attribute of our relationship to a surprising number of things. We talk about trusting a person, for example: "I would trust her with my life." We may talk about trusting an object: "You expect me to cross the gorge on that bridge?!" We can trust (or not) a situation, a company’s brand, or a celebrity endorsing a product.

Collaboration is at the core of a fundamental shift in business from traditionally hierarchical companies to flexible, nimble, and often matrixed organizations. In fact, collaboration has emerged as a key driver at many of the most innovative and successful companies in the world.

More and more people know collaboration for the powerful way that it transforms work cultures, affects bottom line priorities, enables innovation, and drives profits. Yet myths about collaboration persist: "It's too hard." "It's all about getting consensus. "It slows things down."

IA's involvement with the Bali Institute for Global Renewal — and specifically with its annual conference — exemplifies our company’s intention to help promote global peace and understanding.

Being a leader is a complex job. One of the subtleties that takes time to master is knowing when to manage someone to ensure they produce an immediate result, and when to coach someone to help them solve a problem on their own. The reality is that you as a leader live in a world with less and less discretionary time, and where you can't afford to let talent and potential go untapped. Coaching is therefore, a unique type of working relationship that can have significant impact on developing the independent problem-solving capabilities of your direct reports and peers.

Clearly, we're on the threshold of a huge shift in the numbers of women stepping up as senior executives with so many poised to move up from the No. 2 or No. 3 spot.

What's more, statistics indicate that we're seeing the tip of a very big iceberg. Though women still face 4-to-1 odds against being chosen for senior executive posts, several early indicators herald significant changes ahead:

- More than half of the Fortune 500 companies have more than one female corporate officer.

At one time or another we've all coached a group of people who give us "the silent treatment", who sit in awkward silence after we ask a question. This lack of immediate response tends to make us consultants nervous. After all, we're paid for answers. We are hired to produce results, to find solutions. So we start talking, to fill in the uncomfortable space. We start talking and talking and sometimes we forget to be quiet.

With Baby Boomers retiring en masse, and the emergence of China and India, US businesses have a global leadership emergency on their hands. Interaction Associates' sponsorship of The Conference Board Leadership Development Conference provides a context for Linda Dunkel to share her point of view on the topic and its importance to contemporary businesses. As a leading expert in the field of leadership development for more than thirty years, Interaction Associates has a wealth of experience to pass on.

When it comes to change, leaders get wake-up calls — whether they want them or not. The calls can come from the product quality group or the media, the customer, or a lone voice deep in their organizations. The wake-up call usually sounds like:

"What we're doing isn't good enough any more."

"What we did yesterday puts us at risk today."

"We have a new opportunity, but so does our competition — and whoever gets there first, wins."