About
As the founder of Leadership First and the author of The Inspirational Leader, Inspire…
Articles by Gifford
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Great Leaders Are Humble Enough To Admit Their Mistakes
Great Leaders Are Humble Enough To Admit Their Mistakes
By Gifford Thomas
Contributions
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What do you do if your team and superiors are not receptive to addressing failure?
Microsoft created an AI-powered Twitter bot called Tay in 2016 to enhance human-AI communication. However, the bot started making racist and vulgar comments within just 16 hours of its launch, resulting in its prompt shutdown. Microsoft issued an official apology for the bot's behavior. But what was remarkable was the response from Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, to the team involved in the bot's development. He encouraged them to "keep pushing" and emphasized the importance of "learning and improving". Satya Nadella demonstrated empathy and acknowledged that challenges are natural in the process of growth. His response sets the tone for a culture in which others can follow.
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What do you do if your team and superiors are not receptive to addressing failure?
The very first issues to address is the culture of the organization. In one of my previous jobs, people were petrified of making even the slightest errors because of the negative feedback. The organization's culture was one of fear, toxicity and blame, and as a result, the organization remained average instead of becoming extraordinary. An organization's culture is naturally aligned with the leadership culture, so if the leader views failure as something wrong, it will filter throughout the entire organization. Perfection is a fantasy because things will go wrong at some point. How you deal with failure shows what type of leader you are because the greats will tell you that their success came from epic failure.
Activity
Experience
Education
Licenses & Certifications
Volunteer Experience
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Treasurer
Farouk Developmental Committee
- Present 12 years 6 months
Environment
As the treasurer of the committee, I am responsible for all the finances of the group.
Publications
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Amazon Bestseller - The Inspirational Leader, Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible
Leadership First
Can you inspire your team hearts and minds every day?
If you can, your organization will become one of the best in the world, and your team will perform at heights you never imagine. Harvard Business School gathered data from assessments of more than 50,000 leaders, and the ability to inspire stood out as one of the most critical competencies.
Inspiration creates the highest levels of engagement, it is what separates the best leaders from everyone else, and it is what employees…Can you inspire your team hearts and minds every day?
If you can, your organization will become one of the best in the world, and your team will perform at heights you never imagine. Harvard Business School gathered data from assessments of more than 50,000 leaders, and the ability to inspire stood out as one of the most critical competencies.
Inspiration creates the highest levels of engagement, it is what separates the best leaders from everyone else, and it is what employees want most in their leaders. The Inspirational Leader, Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible was written to help all leaders successfully navigate all the disruptions in today fiercely competitive world we need a new generation of leaders who care deeply for the well-being of their team and who understand that their people are the heart of their leadership.
Whether you are the leader of a large, medium or small organization; a Teacher, a V.P., CEO, Father, Mother, Police Officer, or Hustler; this book was written to help you inspire your team to believe in the impossible. Each chapter in this book will push you to become the leader you were destined to be; a leader of influence, a leader of value, a leader of vision and most importantly, an inspirational leader.
Languages
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English
Native or bilingual proficiency
Organizations
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Chartered Management Institute
Associate Member
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