The Human Side of Leadership - It's a Choice, Not a Technique.

There's a version of senior leadership that keeps itself at a careful distance. Polished. Corporate. Slightly untouchable.

And then there's what I witnessed recently - leaders who were present and genuinely in the room. Curious. Interacting. Not performing authority, just exercising it naturally.

Working across multiple leadership teams this past few months — in different continents: Asia, Europe and America - the through-line in the best sessions wasn't the agenda, which I helped to design (😊), or the framework I tried to structure the discussion within. It was the tone set by the leaders in the room.

When senior leaders show up as real human beings - engaged, willing to learn alongside their teams, less worried about being right than about being useful, comfortable enough to show their human side - something shifts in the room. People lean in. Conversations get braver and more fluid. Ideas travel further. More energy in a safe space.

It's not a technique. It's a choice. And it makes all the difference.

A good example: in one of the fireside chats with the "captain" of the business, we prepared questions in advance to kick-start the conversation - just in case the audience needed a little time to warm up. As the captain had engaged with the team before the fireside chat, the audience were all ready and keen to ask their own questions. Our prepared questions almost didn't get a look-in! Now, that's a good problem to have.

To the leaders who trust me enough to explore this together: Thank You. It is a privilege.

Find your own way of expressing your human side. There is no one size fits all. And that's exactly the point.