Editor's note: Dana DiGregorio, MESH Experience, was selected as a finalist of the 2022 Fearless Leader Award which is a category in the Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards. To find out more about the awards click here.
Great leadership means generating great leaders. Giving a team the room to lead themselves, at all levels, is where you separate leadership from management. Allowing mistakes, holding space for growth and mentorship and inspiring others to be creative and autonomous versus building a factory set team based on previous rules, processes and protocol is key. Great leaders lavish in celebrating diversity in all ways and aren’t afraid to be proven wrong or shown a better way. I think often we defer to the old principles of business growth and team building when we think of leadership. And it always comes from the perspective of “I.” “I can drive culture among my team by doing this,” or “I can create processes and procedures that will explain the best practices for that.” All of those things are arguably critical when thinking of building a great business and roles, but they’re not necessarily going to build great leaders.
Leadership never starts with “I,” because it’s never about “I.” When “I” add my ideas to a meeting unprovoked, I’ve stifled my team's creativity and opportunity for growth. Great leaders let go of the “I” and focus on “you.” They listen more than they talk. They try their hardest never to interrupt. They acknowledge the little things and celebrate their team. Great leaders create great leaders who will do the same because they have had the opportunity to show up authentically, to be heard and to be valued in their workplace.
I think insights and research is constantly changing and evolving, as new tech and old tech merge to bring better and more accurate measurement and insight to our clients, stakeholders and industry.
My hunch is that as there con...