The two kinds of people in the world--and why it matters for leadership
The two kinds of people in the world--and why it matters for leadership
Fast Company; by Robert E. Siegel; 6/3/25
Hard-nosed leadership and compassionate leadership aren’t opposites. The best leaders embrace both. One provocative assertion I often make when teaching is that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who have hearts and those who don’t. ... I then share that many leaders look at changing technology and changing markets and realize that a lot of jobs in their companies will inevitably be eliminated within the next few years, and it’s not hard to predict which jobs will go away. The question is how the executives react to this realization. ... For the purposes of Systems Leadership, it doesn’t matter which type of person you are in my (admittedly reductive) shorthand. You need to invest in your people whether you have a heart or not, for at least three major reasons.
- It's cheaper and easier to retrain than replace ...
- Investing in people boosts morale and discretionary effort ...
- Institutional knowledge is an invaluable asset ...