Loneliness at the top one of the top leadership blues. Despite being surrounded by their people, leaders often struggle with loneliness in their ivory tower. This is because very few people can relate to and appreciate the unique set of challenges leading an organization brings. Having both dealt with loneliness myself many times and having come across leaders who’ve struggled with similar issues, I understand how awful you feel at the apex of your business.
The journey of running a business is seemingly a rollercoaster ride with exciting highs and crashing lows. At the helm of affairs, most leaders have felt cold and lonely in their ivory tower despite being surrounded by their people. This is because they have no one to share their aspirations, triumphs and tribulations with confidence. Also, very few can relate to the big picture, see beyond the horizon or feel that excitement during early project stages.
Over the years mankind thrived by living in groups, forming connections and discovering new things. It’s this very aspect of human connection that helped advance our world from hunting and farming to doing business and networking with one another. Though we formally exchange business cards at networking events, the real test is how we can make people remember us and remain in contact once the meeting lapses.
Have you ever bumped into a connection that changed your life forever? Whether the encounter ignited sparks of partnership, or innovative ideas rolled over, impromptu meetings and informal chats can open possibilities that never existed before. From initiating insightful discussions, giving wings to new ideas or launching new products, a chance meeting can open doors to drive businesses forward in unimaginable ways.
Networking is critical to innovation where ideas disseminate as useful insights to another. In this context, networking is more about gaining ideas than about resources. While resource networkers interact with people of homogenous backgrounds to gain access to greater resources (contacts, funds, influence, or information) to further their careers, idea networkers interact with people from heterogeneous backgrounds to gain diverse perspectives and simply learn new ideas.
In a world of uncertainty and unprecedented challenges, organizations need to be resilient and nimble as change itself. Rule-plugged management systems and lofty hierarchies have failed to be responsive and agile to events around them. I stumbled across an interesting concept 'Humanocracy', which presents a blueprint for creating organizations as inspired and inventive as the humans inside them.