Sascha Ahrweiler’s Post

In this week’s Leadership Travel Guide Newsletter, I will delve into Sam Altman's leadership journey. Unpack the lessons and reflections from a top AI CEO's playbook.   If you would like to read this post, which will be released on Saturday, and receive the upcoming weekly Leadership Travel Guide Newsletter, please sign up here: https://lnkd.in/gqhtQegK   #leadership #AI #lessons-learned #CEO #SamAltman #openai

One of the opportunities many of my fellow students at UVU failed to take advantage of is the ability to go to any of the various conferences hosted on campus, at no additional cost. While I have attended several conferences during my enrollment, the most recent was the Utah Women in Higher Education Network (UWHEN) conference for 2024. This particular conference focused on leadership. I especially loved the opening keynote by Dr. Tasha Toy. Despite the fact most of the attendees were only halfway through their first cup of coffee (or Diet Coke), Dr. Tasha Toy started her keynote with a vibrant smile and pure energy. I appreciated taking a moment to practice reflective listening while also connecting with others who were moved by Dr. Toys insights at the conference. The most inspiring moment of the morning was when Dr. Toy said about leadership: “Either people think they are a leader, or others see the leadership in them and call them to it. When I say those two things I mean: when it's yourself, you are the leader of your own parade. You are the drum major. When you get the hang of leadership, people start following you. They start asking you questions. It may seem mundane, but that's how you feel good. One thing I will say is, don't be afraid to make mistakes. Own your mistakes and keep going. Brush yourself off. Get yourself a tic-tac. Get back to it.” I know I'm not the only one who needs the reminder when I struggle that sometimes you just need to take a moment for yourself then get back to it. My struggle often comes from tripping myself up and doubting my abilities. I know many of us struggle with self-doubt. When you have a lofty title and a big office, it’s easier to see yourself as a leader. But leadership doesn’t start there, it starts right now. It starts with volunteering to do the hard tasks when no one else will. It starts with carrying yourself with respect and respecting others. Leaders learn to make everyone feel valued, because simply living and thinking is valuable. I am grateful for the opportunity to attend such conventions while at UVU, and I know I will carry these insights with me for the rest of my life.

I'm taking The Johns Hopkins University Coursera course on #HealthcareInformatics, and one of the concepts that has come up over and over again is Kotter's 8 Steps to Leading Change. In a course ostensibly about IT, it's surprising how much time is spent on leadership. It's a a powerful concept: implementing anything new in any organization is more about understanding the people and the culture, about creating a vision and a mission, about building partnerships and encouraging those around you than anything technical. It's worth looking into: https://lnkd.in/eeSFT-sG If this is true for health IT, where else is this transformational? #LeadingChange #Leadership #HealthIT #ClinicalInformatics #OrganizationalChange

Years ago, Ross and I attended a week-long conference with Jack Canfield, best selling author of The Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books in Scottsdale, Arizona. The conference was called “Breakthrough to Success” and was based on one of his other best selling books “The Success Principles – How to Get from Where You are Now to Where You Want to Be”. One of the lessons Jack taught us was to take 100% responsibility for ourselves and our actions. It was confronting at the time and yet so liberating. In our leadership experience, I shared a similar exercise with participants. We were discussing how it is never too late to clean up your mess. In other words, you can always say sorry or assert yourself, even if you think the moment has passed. Here’s a couple of questions from the exercise. Starting with “If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for ………. I would ………..” ⭐ What are you doing that is not working that you need to do less of? ⭐ What are you doing that is working that you need to do more of? ⭐ What are you not doing that you could try on to see if it works? ⭐ What will you commit to doing as a result of this exercise? In other words, what mess are you responsible for and what can and will you do to clean it up? When will you do that? Let me know what your commitment is by commenting on this post. It’s amazing how much we can achieve when we know we are being held accountable. Learn more about what happens inside the Leadership Experience: https://lnkd.in/gbQ7R385

Which behaviors help you to develop towards a leadership role? Stephanie Leue gave an insightful talk yesterday at our ProductTank Zürich meetup. - prove your strategic value - less competition, more collaboration - talk about the elephant in the room - speak the CFO's language, because they're the best friend of the CEO - no more hiding - take responsibility - no gossip - no finger-pointing - find out who you are and how you want to be perceived We had a lively discussion afterward and many curious questions from the community. I loved how engaged the audience was! One of the points that were mentioned in the discussion: a lot of these points are about trust. Building trust continuously. And you can start doing that right away - it is never too late to change your behavior. Thanks also to Tobias Quelle and Simon Jansen for sharing their experience and Sebastian Bossung for moderating the panel discussion! And big thanks to Digitec Galaxus AG for hosting us in your cool event location.