Simon Cowell? Lessons in leadership? Seems to be
contradictory. How do these words all belong in the same sentence? On the
surface Simon appears to be arrogant, rude and quite frankly obnoxious. Truth
is, I love the guy! Becoming a great leader requires one to continuously learn
from their surroundings and work towards becoming more effective in their role.
I have found that successful leaders are not blinded by their power but
instead, use this influenced to become a better mentor to their team and are
visionaries that transform the organization into a successful and thriving
entity.
This realization made me dive into reading and observing
everything I could in my surroundings that could help me become a more
effective leader. Some lessons, I learned through interacting with my team,
while others I learned simply by picking up small details from the observation
of successful people, such as Simon Cowell.
Simon Cowell; a man whose name when uttered confuses the
listener as to how one could learn anything except for the art of criticizing
him. If you have had the opportunity to
witness his actions in many of the British and American music or talent
competitions, you can see how brutally honest his remarks tend to be and how he
is seen to be someone who can crush the dreams of aspiring individuals.
But if you look just a little closer, many lessons can be
learned from his behavior. I did that and here are three lessons I learned from
Simon Cowell regarding leadership.
Right People, Right
Seat
As a leader, it is extremely important to keep yourself
aware of the different skills that your employees are equipped with. By
recognizing these skills, a successful leader will be able to realize that
there are no bad employees but instead,
there are only poor decisions that have been made by leaders or managers to place
these employees in the wrong roles. An effective leader does not simply label
an employee as being inefficient but instead tries to find a role for the
employee that works best with their skill set. So, what has that got to do with
Simon Cowell?
The realization mentioned
above was made when I witnessed how Simon Cowell instantly recognizes talent in
an individual even when they are delivering a poor performance. Have you seen this? Simon quickly recognizes
the talent, but he recognized that they are singing the wrong song! He asks the
contestants to try another song that, in his opinion, better suits their voice
and style. This kind of flexibility and understanding is needed to be developed
by every person looking to become a successful leader. The results are amazing.
Search YouTube and you will see that in every instance the contestant just
crushes it with the correct song or performane. Right person, right seat.
Transparency/Honesty
Criticism is not taken well by most of the people, and most
of the audience might feel that Simon Cowell tends to express his opinion in a
brutally honest manner which should not be adopted by leaders. However, to
become a true mentor, a leader must be
able to give feedback in a transparent manner that should be seen as an
essential part of coaching or training for the employee. The person receiving
negative feedback might feel disappointed temporarily but will benefit from it
in the long run if they learn from it and implement the teachings in their
life.
Simon Cowell’s honest attitude also teaches the leaders to
take difficult steps whenever required and not feel reluctant to coach the
employees in any way they can.Even though the negative feedback given by Simon
Cowell to the contestant might feel harsh in the beginning but if the
contestants end up making the changes and learning from it, they would have a
higher chance to become successful in the future.
Empathy
I agree. When I think about Simon Cowell, empathy is not the
first thing that comes to mind.
Right? In reality, the honesty that is delivered through his comments only
goes on to show how much the success of contestants matters to him. He cares about their success! In a world where we are
surrounded by technology, robots and artificial intelligence,
the ability to understand and share true feelings remains uniquely human. It is something that only we can do, it is our
competitive advantage over AI.
Simon Cowell’s honest attitude should be appreciated and
learned from. Leaders today need to be more involved in the success process of
their team and give them an opportunity to learn and grow. Your employees will
not become successful unless you remain involved and give them ample understanding
and feedback to grow. Show that you care!
Conclusion
Keeping the success and betterment of those working for you demands
that you become the best version of yourself. Simon Cowell might be seen as a
villain by many people but in my eyes, he teaches everyone the importance of
being honest, recognizing talent and nurturing it in a way that helps the
person.
***
Wesley Middleton author of Violent Leadership: Be a Force for Change. Disrupt. Innovate. Energize. (ForbesBooks), co-founder and managing partner of Middleton Raines + Zapata LLP (MRZ), a tax and accounting services firm, and is also an executive team member for MRZ Financial and SKY Valuation. With over 25 years of tax compliance and consulting experience, he has demonstrated a knack for helping business owners transform their companies into growth and strategy-oriented organizations that excel in operations, marketing, technology, customer service, and workforce engagement, as well as tax and accounting services. Middleton is a certified public accountant and member of the AICPA, Texas Society of CPAs, and the Association of Accounting Marketing.
MRZ LLP: http://www.mrzllp.com
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