My 4 secrets to success - and Leadership Development
They’re not secrets at all, actually. They’re all listed right here on my website. They’re my values, and I love sharing them with people in the hope they’ll change their life like they did mine. Because the fact that I live and breathe them has meant the success of my own personal development, my business and my work as a leadership development consultant and HR thought leader, and my entire life. They’re why I am who I am; why I do what I do; and why I love it all so much and keep smashing it out of the park.
Success & leadership development: the essential ingredients
Acting Worldly
I want to see more of us opening ourselves up to ambiguity. I’ve spent years pushing myself to work on my own personal development, and the reason why I do that is because I don't just practice what I preach – I live my values. When we're talking about creating purpose, creating leaders who are change agents, or supporting businesses through transformation, what’s really important is that we do that as individuals. That's something that I definitely have done. It’s why I've created this consultancy, and it’s a reason why I’m happy to get back to work every morning.
Living Bold
By this I mean challenging ourselves and others. I feel that's the future, and that if we don't do this, we aren’t going to survive. Nor will our businesses. I’m currently supporting a couple of consultancies on their product design, product range, content design, and some of their go-to-market strategy. What's been most interesting to me about this work is that while one organisation is huge and the other is much smaller, they both know and understand the same thing: that they need to do something different. They have to be bold, take big steps, and carve themselves a new path.
Fearlessly Evolving
D&I is a huge topic at the moment, and rightly so. We need to ensure that leaders (including myself) don't simply create an inclusive workplace through half-hearted ticked boxes and token hires, but that we encourage others around us to embrace uniqueness and a true sense of their individuality. When individuals know who they are, they are able to bring more of themselves to the table, and businesses can get better at creating learning cultures centred around diversity (including diversity of thought) and inclusivity.
Owning Impact
Fundamentally, this comes down to making the world a better place, and making conscious efforts to do that. It means thinking hard and carefully about good will, sustainability, every decision that we make, and the social impact that we have on others. It means really thinking about what ESG means to you and your business, to ensure that we’re not just good corporate citizens, but that we're also positive and proactive role models to other individuals and businesses.
I know I’ve made real differences to businesses and lives, including developing high potential talent at a grassroots style leadership development program, during which 100% of participants reported that they learned new skills and felt more empowered. Knowing that every single person took something positive away is what makes what I do so rewarding.
That feeling of empowerment is contagious within organisations, and it feeds me. Using active listening, connecting through empathy, and strategically challenging L&D and leadership development design, we can create something that's bigger than who we are as people. Something that can support organisations and their ecosystems in becoming bolder, more sustainable, more dynamic, more inclusive, and all the things that I consciously embody and that have brought me to where I am today.
Tell me: what are the secrets to your success? What are the values you live by? What makes you who you are?
Book a consultation and let’s discuss how these values can develop your leaders and make a real difference to your organisation.
Written by Michael
Michael Mauro is the founder of a forward-thinking organisation specialising in leadership, HR and employee development. With over a decade of global experience, Michael has become a leading voice on topics such as culture, inclusion, wellbeing, and the future of leadership.
