Shackled by the skills crunch, a fish (business) rots from the head down
February 8, 2011The Wow! Awards – The missing key to employee engagement and great service?
February 15, 2011Leadership, social media, community and other stuff – Interview with Scott Gould of Like Minds
Today is the second video interview in my series of interviews with leading authors, thought leaders and general all round good guys and gals.
Previously, I spoke to Chris Ducker of Virtualbusinesslifestyle.com about blogging, business, outsourcing and other stuff but today I want to introduce you to rising star (some would he’s already a star) in the world of leadership, building communities and the world of social media…..
Drum roll please….
Today’s interview is with Scott Gould, who is co-founder of Like Minds, a leading conference and insights organisation that connects a community of half a million around the world through its events and co-working clubs, and advises media agencies, Fortune 500 companies, and countries. He is also also a writer, speaker (I met him when he spoke at a London Blog Club event) and noted leader on the changing nature of communication. Scott is also a church pastor and passionate Christian, as well as involved in many other projects, and is a husband to a hottie (his words, I hasten to add).
Finally, in his spare time ;), he also runs Aaron+Gould, a small social communications consultancy that delivers training and guidance to a wide range of organisations as well as sitting on the board of several startups, advising local councils and the government with regards to community building through social media.
Leadership, social media, community and other stuff – Interview with Scott Gould of Likeminds from Adrian Swinscoe on Vimeo.
Do connect with Scott at his blog, Scott Gould & friends, follow him on Twitter, or see his other social profiles here. Whilst you are there, do tell him that you saw his video over here.
In the last interview, I received a couple of comments about editing and posting in one place. Whilst I have been able to post in one place and piece on Vimeo, I’ve not yet got a great handle on the editing thing as yet so please forgive the length of the interview.
However, I do hope that you would agree that there is a huge amount of great stuff in there and look forward to your comments, thoughts and feedback below.
Thanks to MrTopf for the image.
11 Comments
Adrian,
I like the interview platform, it is a great way to here a person’s real ‘voice’. I do a fair amount of traveling and listen to a lot of audio books, I prefer those that are read by the author. You can really tell the difference when the author is reading vs. a ‘reader.’
Thanks for sharing!
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thanks for your comment and for the feedback. I’m going to do a mix of text, audio and video interviews but here’s my question: If you travel a lot and want to listen to the interview would it be helpful to split out the interview if it is in video format so that it is available as a podcast too so that you can download it and listen to it whilst you are traveling?
Adrian
Hi Adraian & Scott,
Thanks for this thought provoking blog post on leadership; I am not kidding you I have been thinking about it since seeing it.
So here goes some people would probably see me as a leader as I organise a local networking event and in my early years worked as a youth and community worker managing a number of projects.
I however do not see myself as a leader! Last night I was in the pub having a chin wag and the leadership topic came up.
We were talking about management and leadership, my thoughts are this even though you may be the head of a company you may not see yourself as a leader. Of course this will create difficulties that run throughout a company.
My situation is slightly different but to be honest I am confused. Nothing new I may add hehe.
Is there a term for this situation?
What do you think?
Ta Wendy
Hi Wendy,
Thanks for your comment.
For me, I don’t think leadership or management is about labels, it’s more about what gets done or what you help others to achieve. That for me is the true sign of leadership.
I would suggest that you are already a leader in your own life, business and community and not to worry about the labels as they are probably of more use and more interesting for other people. Just keep doing what you are doing, what you love and what you believe in and leave the label stuff to others.
How’s that?
Adrian
Hi Wendy
Good question and good thoughts.
Leadership expert John Maxwell maintains that there are 5 levels of leadership – the lowest being “position” which is being a leader because of your position, but nothing more. Then each level on top is about being a more influential and regarded leader beyond the position that you may or may not have. (link to the framework: http://hubpages.com/hub/John-Maxwell-defines-5-levels-of-leadership)
Often, people regard us as leaders more than we do ourselves. This is because when we are aspring and unsure of our leadership, we are more aware of our weaknesses than our strengths, and so when we display leadership we don’t see it because we are more caught up with the mistakes we made or what we could’ve done differently.
This is a natural stage of leadership and is to be expected – but leaders must grow through it. If they dont, and continue to not see themselves as leaders whilst others do, these others wil loose respect for them and the leader’s stature will be diminished in their eyes.
Aspring leaders must not, on the other hand, over step the mark and act as more of a leader than they actually are!
I don’t know if there is a name for this, but I teach this a lot to aspring leaders. I then tell them how other people have told me that they see them as leaders – and this should serve to get their confidence in place.
Best,
Scott
Hi Scott,
Thank you for a great answer and generous response to Wendy’s question. I know that I learnt about a new leadership framework and it gave me a lot to think about.
Adrian
Adrian,
As much as I dislike labels I also find them useful especially when I’m trying to find information.
Thanks Scott,
This is really great thank you and it makes a lot of sense, it’s really interesting to see the different levels of leadership on a scale.
What you say is fascinating it’s true you can get so engrossed in what you could do better that you can miss what you have already achieved so in a sense it feels like you are not moving forward and are therefore not embracing and learning about your own role within a leadership context.
I guess this would mean pushing your own boundaries and taking some ownership by firstly perceiving yourself as having leadership ability and moving forward.
Thank for pointing me in the direction of the 5 levels of leadership I will read further.
Wendy 😉