Leadership Challenge Round-Up - How to build an online presence

Happy Saturday,

This edition is the last of the challenges for remote leaders on Leadership Anywhere.

From it, you will get a summary of the entire series, putting all the LEGO blocks together. I also intended this edition to reveal some behind-the-scenes info on why I did this series and what is coming up next.

Thanks for staying in the loop.

The ultimate goal for remote leaders is presence

More importantly, online presence. That was the entire goal of the challenges series here: increasing your online presence so you could command your vision and influence without the limits of location or time.

Your presence is obvious in the office. In a remote environment, it has to be intentional and online. Without your presence, you can’t influence others to share your vision; without influence, you are not a leader.

So, I shared my tried-and-tested practices in the last weeks.

I wanted to give you the context (the why) and the how. Unlike most mentors and coaches, I wanted to give you very practical to-dos that you can do at your own pace to achieve the outlined goals.

First, we started with finding your voice. It was a practice of self-reflection, which, according to most people I have talked with, is the most common thing missing from leaders.

Second, we practiced empathy, in a practical way. I could give you all the prep talk on why being nice to each other is important and understanding your team’s needs. In this challenge, you’ve had 5 DIY practices to develop deeper empathy. Without empathy, you can’t connect with others - so no point talking about presence.

Unlike others, who immediately jump into “OK, you need to start developing content if you want to be seen as a leader,” I shared my take on daily publishing only on the third challenge. This challenge helps you beat impostor syndrome and start daily content production.

On the fourth challenge, you need a trusting team to transfer your vision as a leader, so we focused on creating trust on this challenge. In a remote setting, trust comes from transparency. The more transparent your company is, the more trust you can cultivate. I shared 5 DIY practices on how to adapt to more transparent operations.

On the fifth challenge, we discussed mindset, mindfulness, and hitting a strategic pause. I fundamentally believe that leadership presence comes from stability and not from fast-paced adaptability. If you are stable and solid on the ground, you can adapt to anything faster. Fixing your focus helps with stability—mindfulness is a key to unlocking better focus.

On the sixth challenge, armed with a trusting team, daily content publishing, empathy, self-reflection, and high focus, we leaped a big forward. Without all the rest before, it didn’t make sense to talk about thought leadership, which is the most important part of the challenges series.

On the last challenge, I wanted to share some tactical tips on storytelling. It is like a spice, the cherry on top of everything we discussed. Storytelling is not an ability but a tool that you can master. It helps you to transfer your vision and influence your team directly on internal matters or indirectly through your public thought leadership program.

All the previous challenges are available on my site here.

Behind the scenes

Mentoring others is still new to me.

I’ve spent 2 decades of my career leading teams (10 years remotely, 10 in the office), mainly in the creative industry & B2B tech. I mentored everyone whom I knew personally. But mentoring those who don’t know me personally is still new.

Still, I wanted to give all-in in terms of value.

Many of you replied to this email flow with, “this is great, you should create a course from it.” Some of you scheduled calls with me to go deeper. Thank you to all who felt that this series resonated with you.

I have zero intention of doing a course or giving free workshops. Unlike most self-proclaimed consultants, my billable work is still plain and simple consulting. I do enjoy it as it gives me the creative edge and flexibility.

As you probably know, writing is self-paced learning. I wrote this series not just for my subscribers but also for myself to sum up what I believe in a condensed version.

What’s next

I’m going to do two things: I want to share my knowledge for free with anyone.

1. I’ll hit a strategic pause for a couple of weeks. I have some family drama to take care of anyway (my dog is very old), plus I have to do some heavy lifting with a client.

2. I’ll come back on Beehiiv with refined, shorter weekly content for remote leaders. I will focus only on four principles:

   • Growth: sharing growth tactics I’ve learned through my career as a CMO.

   • Mindset: sharing mindfulness & health tips that boost your professional journey. It’s a new “addiction” of mine. :)

   • Leadership: continue sharing leadership practices that work exclusively for remote leaders.

   • Resources: tools, books, and practices that I loved and helped my professional journey and can help yours.

FYI: all current subscribers (around 1,5K) will be added to my Beehiiv account. You can unsubscribe at any time.

My goal is to treat my newsletter as my sole vehicle for sharing my knowledge. All my daily content on LinkedIn will be geared towards that, too.

After all my experiments with content in the last year, it turned out that most experts are right. Writing works, but only if you commit to it and focus your content on one single audience.

Hope you will tag along on this journey. Meanwhile, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at any time.

Wishing you the best,

Peter

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Leadership Challenge #7 - How to tell great stories as a remote leader

Happy Saturday,

Welcome back to our weekly newsletter on the future of leadership. This week, we dive into the power of storytelling and why it's a crucial skill for remote leaders.

As always, you'll receive context on why it's important, the big wins from doing it right, and a straightforward guide on how you can enhance your storytelling skills.

Storytelling is the glue between the company and its people

I am sure you’ve all got almost bored by the constant reminder from experts on why a company’s mission is important. I know, I have a yawning reflex that kicks in when I hear “company’s mission.”

One thing, though, is often neglected in that story.

The sheer fact that a company doesn’t have a mission. Their leaders have a mission. Their people have a mission.

It’s like, what’s your company’s voice? Nothing, companies don’t have a voice, it’s BS. The people who work for the company have a voice.

So, when you hear the company’s mission, think about a story instead. And that story acts as the glue between the business and its people. As the leader, founder, CEO, whoever you are, you are the storyteller of that story. It is up to you to tell that story.

The better stories you tell, the more people will listen to you. It is that simple. Storytelling wins hearts, loyalty, commitment, and engagement.

Not everyone is a natural-born storyteller, but anyone can learn how to tell a good story. You just have to understand the anatomy of a good story.

Before we begin this week's practices, let me give you a quick overview of what makes a good story.

A good story has three principles:

1. It has a simple structure. It is a journey in which you start with nothing, struggle to get through something, have some failures, and then succeed and embrace the wins. Every good story has this structure, whether it is a personal founder’s story or the new Iron Man movie.

2. It empowers. Empowerment comes with a simple positive message or encouragement. The poor boy gets rich but humble. The woman defies the odds and succeeds. The common human being realizes that he/she is special. You get the picture.

3. It is inclusive. I’m not talking about DEI terms, but it's more like a good story that makes the listener the hero. The hero is not the company’s founder but those who use its products. Without this, you will have fans but not followers.

You might think otherwise, but we all have good stories to tell. It sounds super cheesy, but everyone's journey is special. You just have to find out how to tell that story.

Stories are even more important in a remote setting. They transcend borders, time zones, and cultures. They connect us regardless of where we are, when we work, what we believe in, or where we come from.

So, as a remote leader, you have to master storytelling. Otherwise, having a presence that connects you to your team will be super hard.

Fear not. Here are my 5 practices that will help you improve this skill. Dive in.

You can do the practices in any chronological order, but going from day 1 to day 5 makes sense without changing the order.

Day 1 - Do your story audit

It might sound weird, but not everyone is capable of recognizing a good story, even if they are the heroes in it. I think it is similar to impostor syndrome.

So first, let’s find the stories within you.

The good stories reflect on the why and the how within your journey.

Think about these questions to find the good stories:

• Why did you start your company / Why did you start your leadership career? What was the main motivation? What did you want to achieve?

• How did you end up there, and where are you now? What obstacles did you need to overcome to get here?

• How did you solve problems? What was your “secret sauce”?

Write your answers down into a document. There is no need to format it; make it freeflow, like a therapy journal.

Day 2 - Format your story

Usually, I don’t recommend starting a presentation document, but I think it is the best option this time. You can also stick to a simple document.

You should have 5 segments (or pages or slides).

1) Your why. What was your motivation to begin your journey?

2) Your struggle. What was the hardship? What were the obstacles?

3) Your solution. How did you overcome your struggle?

4) The win. What’s the win for you? Be bold and share.

5) The win for others. What’s the win for the audience?

An example story should look something like this:

I started from a small garage selling books online.

No one believed in my business, but I knew that I was right. The internet would become a big hit, and I could sell more than books on it.

I launched an online webshop named Amazon. I remained committed to my plan for years before I saw any tangible success. Eventually, my company became a success, and I became a billionaire.

Now, my company empowers millions to start their ecommerce business or simply shop anything from the convenience of their homes on the Internet.

Day 3 - Practice

Call a meeting with someone whom you trust dearly. It doesn’t matter who it is. This time, even family can play. A good story is unbiased.

Tell your framed story.

Ask for feedback.

Ask how listening to the story made them feel. What was not clear? Where would they improve the story?

It might be blasphemy for some, but it is totally fine to fine-tune a story. You are not writing a chapter for the history books (or maybe?), plus, most of the historical stories are full of made-up details. I studied history at the uni, trust me.

Amend your story with some fluffy details if needed. It’s fine. The core story should be truthful, though.

Day 4 - Brief your marketing staff

Marketers are amazing storytellers. Tell them your story.

If you have an in-house marketer, ask them to include this story in your bio, communique, and reference point.

You will tell this story on podcasts, in your LinkedIn bio, on sales calls, and if you have an HR team, this story adds up into a "mission statement” as well.

Long story short: make the story part of your professional life.

Day 5 - Repeat

You can replicate this process into smaller stories now that you have a core story.

Once you’ve done one, it is a shift of mindset. You will look at happenings as things that you can tell to others, even if previously, you were a lousy storyteller.

The best practice is to create a story bank. Write these stories into a document and use them however you want.

This challenge was the last one in this remote leadership development series. Compared to the previous, more practical ones, it was probably the most vague and open. I thought it would be important to close this series with something like this.

Next week, we will sum up the entire challenge, putting the LEGO pieces together.

After that, I will resume ad-hoc weekly emails as summer is approaching. I live 50 meters from the beach in Tuscany, and we all know that remote work’s greatest perk is to enjoy life without borders or limits. :)

See you next week,

Peter

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Leadership Challenge #6 - How to start a thought leadership program

Happy Saturday,

Welcome back to my weekly leadership of the future newsletter. Every week, we do a challenge to boost your remote leadership skills.

This week’s challenge is thought leadership: why it is important, why it is the best investment you can make as a leader, and how to start a thought leadership program immediately. 

As per previous challenges, you'll get the context (why it's important) and five actionable steps (how to do it), which you can implement at your own pace, DIY. Expect to invest about 3-4 hours in total. Let's get started.

What is a thought leadership program, and why is it important for all leaders, especially remote ones?

In the previous challenges, we addressed all the prerequisites for a thought leadership program. 

You've learned how to position yourself and step up as a remote leader to the public.

We developed basic empathy skills so you can have stronger connections with others.

We discussed how to beat impostor syndrome and start creating short-form daily content.

We addressed the issue of trust internally so you can have your team get behind you in any changes.

Lastly, we practiced focus with the help of mindfulness techniques and better self-awareness.

All of these were essential for creating a thought leadership program. Without any of these, you shouldn't jump into this challenge. If you are new here, I suggest you do the previous challenges first, then return to this one. 

Thought leadership is more than just a personal branding technique. It is a long-term investment in yourself. It serves you, even if you pause creating content around it. It opens doors that were closed before. 

Thought leadership means standing up for what you believe in and consistently sharing your thoughts with others. 

It is more than just publishing daily. Daily publishing is part of it. To adequately explain your thoughts, you need to create long-form content. 

The wins are vaster compared to previous challenges, and they vary greatly based on your actual situation and goals with a program like this. For some, becoming a thought leader means getting better clients or building better business partnerships. For others, it means they become a better remote leader, leading to higher-performing people. It all depends. 

But I can guarantee that you will gain more clarity on your thoughts and open doors for more opportunities for yourself or your business. 

It will be the best investment you could ever make. 

So, what are the basic principles of a thought leadership program?

A good thought leadership program has three pillars:

• The content. It relies heavily on some form of long-form content (newsletter, podcast, video, etc.). It is the basis of the program, the platform. 

• The leader. It is professional but personal. Companies are not thought leaders. Leaders are. The goal of the program is to increase the presence of that leader.

• The discussion. It is conversational and influential. The thought leadership program has to be open to everyone. Discussion is not optional but necessary. We can only grow together.

In the previous challenges, we established the basics for finding your voice and having empathy and trust to connect with others. 

So, in this challenge, we will focus only on the content. How can you create long-form content that can serve as the baseline for your thought leadership program?

The tactics that I will share will address the core problems that most people have when they are about to start a program like this:

• Complexity. A longer form means more complex content. 

• Time. The commitment means more time investment.

• Investment. Because this is not just about content creation.

The tactics will give you a structure that solves the three problems above. So, let's jump in. 

In this challenge, we build the tactics on top of each other so they are not interchangeable. 

Day 1: Set your goals and platform. 

Grab a spreadsheet. 

ROW 1 above all columns: your goal with the thought leadership program.

Column 1: PLATFORM

Column 2: CONFIDENCE

Column 3: SUPPORT

In row 1, write down one single goal. 

What do you want to achieve? Be specific and keep it simple. 

• I want to sign up better/more clients/customers.

• I want to build better/more partnerships.

• I want to create something meaningful for others.

Your goal can be altruistic, open, or hitting certain figures. 

In Column 1, write down three platforms: 

• Newsletter/blog

• Podcast

• Video

There is no need to be more specific for now. These three can sum up the three different journeys you can take.

In Column 2, score yourself with 1 to 3. 

1 - I'm not comfortable doing this.

2 - I can do this.

3 - I can thrive in this.

In Column 3, score yourself with 1 to 3. 

1 - I need to do this on my own.

2 - I have some help internally/externally to do this.

3 - I have full support from my team.

Now, look at the spreadsheet. 

Contrary to popular choices, pick the easiest route. 

If you are comfortable writing a newsletter and you have an internal marketer who can set up the platform for you, do that. 

If you feel that you need to do a video but are not comfortable speaking alone in a room to a camera, even if you have internal help, don't do it.

The best option is where you are most comfortable and can also get some help from others. It saves you time and headaches. 

Day 2: Pick 12 topics.

Start a spreadsheet. 

Column 1: Topic.

Column 2: Summary.

Write 12 topics in Column 1.

Explain each topic with a 2-3 sentence long summary in Column 2.

If you don't know your topics, go back to two of the previous challenges:

• Challenge 1: Finding your voice, where you've listed all your values, interests, and aspirations.

• Challenge 3: Creating daily content where you have already figured out these topics for daily pieces.

This task will give you three months of content ideas, which is more than enough to get started.

• If you do a newsletter, the topics will be the titles of your editions.

• If you do a podcast, the topics will be the discussions with your guests.

• If you do a video, the topics will be the discussions for your videos.

Day 3: Plan out your production.

Start a document.

Regardless of what platform you are doing, write a plan that goes like this:

• What is the popular belief on this topic? (attention)

• What am I going to show you that goes against the popular belief? (message)

• Why should you listen to me? What is my proof? (authority)

• What are the five most important takeaways on this topic? (value)

• If you want to learn more, how can I help you? (CTA)

First, you grab the audience's attention. Then, you convey your main message. Then, you establish your authority on that topic. Then, you provide value through education. Lastly, you drive them to do more. 

For now, everything you do should rely on these five questions. 

This will be the structure of all your content. Consider it as a starter template. 

• If you do a newsletter, it acts as a template you should write up. 

• If you do a podcast, direct the conversation through it.

• If you do a video, this is your script template. 

Day 4: Ignore everyone.

This will be the easiest but also the hardest task within any challenge.

What is the common belief here? What do people usually do when they start something new?

They look at others. They read industry insights. They look at competitors. They look at influencers. They evaluate tools. 

Just. Do. Not. Do. This. Please. Ignore everyone and everything.

You've found your platform. You've got your goal. You've got your 12 topics. You've got a starter plan. 

If you spend ANY time looking at others, you will feel overwhelmed. 

• When should I send out my newsletter?

• What is the best platform for newsletters?

• What gear should I use for video or podcasting?

• Should I create an intro for my show?

• How will I measure my metrics?

None of these matters when you are just starting.

I have a podcast. It has like 70+ episodes. The first ten episodes had no intro. I recorded one myself after the 10th. I paid a pro to do it for me after the 20-30th episode. I still use a cheap mic from Amazon with a headset. I still use a simple Zoom room to record the shows. 

It doesn't matter. It's not the BBC 1. It's just a podcast. 

My goal with it is to build partnerships, generate ideas, and network. My minimalist setup fulfills these goals.

Don't overcomplicate it. When you start, ignore everyone and everything.

The closer you are to yourself, the more confident you are. 

Complexity kills confidence. And you need a lot of confidence to get started. 

Day 5: Write the first pieces.

Now that you have spent one day ignoring everyone and everything, you have unconsciously digested the topics you wrote down.

It is time to write the first batches. 

The tactic is simple: block out 2 hours from your calendar to complete this task. No meetings, no chat, no nothing. Just sheer focus on this prime task. 

If you need help with the focus, go back to our previous challenge, which was finding focus. One of the tasks there is about having one prime task a day.

With the template in hand, you should be able to write 4 pieces of newsletters. Or, you can record 2 podcast episodes. Or you can record 2 videos. 

Allow yourself to do some overtime. Depending on your comfort level, you might need more time. 

This is especially true since the video or podcast heavily relies on others and/or technology/gear. 

I can give you some quick tips to ease the process. These worked for me well before:

• Write a newsletter piece without editing it. Once done, hit a 10-minute pause. Then, return to edit the piece. 

• For video, at least for the first ones, write a script with highlights and keywords, but don't write the entire sentences. Have your script on a separate screen above/below your camera so you can read it while talking.

• Write an intro to your podcast where you follow your template and introduce your guest (if you have any, but I recommend interview-style podcasting as it is really simple). Feel free to read the intro entirely. Podcasting is not a live format. You will edit that anyway.

• For audio and video, go for the simplest gear setup. Most of us have a phone/tablet and a headset. It's more than enough to get started.

• Ignore mistakes. Even Joe Rogan's first 3-5 episodes were crap. It's OK. You are just starting and will learn to improve. 

Day 5+1: Scale your content.

It's not a task, but I wanted to highlight this. 

To promote your thought leadership program, you must create daily content—short content for social media. 

Scroll back to your template, where your weekly 3-4 content pieces are. 

• A contrarian take on a popular belief.

• Your message goes against the herd.

• Five key takeaways on a topic. 

• A simple promo post with CTA

Once you've completed the long-form piece of your thought leadership program, your daily content schedule becomes almost autonomous. You will break down the longer pieces into smaller pieces and repurpose the content in various forms. 

All this for a couple of hours every week. 

This series of leadership challenge series has 8 challenges. 

The ultimate goal is to enhance your leadership presence online. 

The next challenge will focus on storytelling and how to lead externally and internally with better stories. 

If you have any questions, I'm here to help you. Hit REPLY with your question.

Take care,

Peter

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Leadership Challenge #5 - Hitting a strategic pause by being more mindful

Happy Saturday,

Welcome back to my weekly leadership of the future newsletter. Every week, we do a challenge to boost your remote leadership skills.

The latest challenges so far:

1. Finding your leadership voice, how to step up as an online leader.

2. Developing empathy as a leader.

3. Beating impostor syndrome to create online content.

4. Creating trust in your business through transparency.

This week’s challenge is about mindfulness: how to hit pause, keep silence, and retain focus in any leadership situation.

As usual, you'll receive the context (why it's important) and five actionable steps (how to do it) that you can implement at your own pace, DIY-style. Expect to invest about 3-4 hours in total. Let's get started.

Why does mindfulness matter, and how can it help leaders today?

Personally, I’ve been doing meditation for years now. Don’t panic. It's nothing fancy, nothing woo-woo, just simply sitting in silence for 10-15 minutes and breathing.

In my 20s, I learned philosophy for a brief period. I’m sure I wasn’t the first to conclude that all religions are the same in terms of practice. Getting closer to a state of mind (god, happiness, enlightenment, etc.) through self-reflection with some form of meditation. Prayers, chants, mantras, and practices vary, but they all have the same goal: hitting a strategic pause of silence.

These practices are now part of modern psychology and are all called mindfulness or something similar. A regular “prayer” is on our Apple Watch; it has an app called Breathe. It’s that common.

Yet, I don’t see many leaders practice this. Sure, everyone is fully on with fitness, self-nutrition, and health tracking. But most people still think that hitting a strategic pause of silence is a waste of time.

I hope this week’s challenge can change that for some of you.

Why is it needed?

There are pretty obvious benefits:

• Reduced stress

• Improved creativity

• Better decision-making

• Deeper connections with others

All that just sitting still in silence for a few minutes every day.

But I can give you a bit more tangible reason to do it. I’m sure you’ve been in this before or seen others doing it. I’ve seen it many times while working with CEOs and founders.

Shiny object syndrome. You try to solve unnecessary problems with the new tools popping up. Ends up in tool abundance and chaotic operations. Solving a problem is not a matter of tools but focus.

Hasted decisions. You think that a decision has to be made on the go immediately. Ends up in bad decisions. Good decisions happen when we have enough information AND time to decide.

Burn out. Creativity happens when we are inspired. We get inspired when we allow our minds to rest, digest, and consume the information we accumulate during our day. Burnout is not the lack of creativity but the lack of time to self-reflect.

So, being mindful simply means that you allow yourself to have time to think and keep strategic silence so you can focus to perform better.

In this week’s challenge, I’ll share 5 tactics on how to be mindful that worked for me, and I’m sure they work for you as well.

This time, the tactics are interchangeable and regular, which means you can do them on multiple days. All these practices should take more than an hour every day.

Tactic 1 - Detox morning

It’s hard to hit pause when the day is already full-on going. So, the best time to start to be more mindful is your morning.

Instead of doing the usual (wake up, check phone, within 5 minutes immediately respond to things…), hit pause early on.

• Keep your phone in the living room, not in the bedroom.

• Do your chores without checking your phone.

• The hardest part: have breakfast, coffee, or whatever is your thing without checking your phone.

Only check your phone when you sit down to work and start your professional day.

Tactic 2 - Walk for clarity

I have a dog, so I am forced to take walks anyway. But I love these walks: I leave my phone at home and wander for 30-40 minutes.

Once the day has started, it’s hard to break the rhythm. A midday/afternoon walk is perfect for getting up and clearing the head.

I know we will always return to this, but leave all your tech gear at home during the walk. No, walking meetings are not productive or mindful.

Tactic 3 - Daily prime task

If you operate a startup or scaleup, things are all over the place. Focus is the hardest thing to retain, not just for leaders.

Practicing focus is simple: kill multitasking.

Now, as leaders, we do a million things at once, so stopping multitasking is a real challenge. But here’s a solution:

• Nominate a single problem that you want to solve perfectly

• Close all the 50 tabs in your browser, hide your phone, log out from all the chats

• Dedicate 1 uninterrupted hour to solve the problem, ignore anything else

I’ve found that the best time to do it is before or after lunch, when the first meetings are done and we are not yet into the full afternoon.

Tactic 4 - “I’ll think about it!”

Most leaders find this phrase frightening—almost as scary as the “I don’t know” statement. But you need to practice it whenever you can.

First of all, a fact: almost all decisions can wait. Almost nothing is urgent or immediate. Anything can wait for 12-24 hours. Immediacy is an illusion of social media.

So, whenever you have a situation where they expect an answer from you, or you need to decide, instead of reacting on the spot, say: “I’ll think about it and get back to you!”

An unpredictable leader who makes fast decisions is just a child with no idea what is happening. By winning time back on your side, you build self-confidence, clarity, and predictability - also known as grown-up decision-making.

Tactic 5 - Sit and breathe

The last tactic is the actual meditation or mindfulness session, whatever you want to call it.

The best time to do it is before going to bed.

The easiest way is to sit down, close your eyes, put on some calm, relaxing music or sound, and inhale and exhale long. Do this for 15 minutes.

If you want to use guided meditation, use it. If you want to use a body scan (“and now relax your thumbs…”), do that. If you want to listen to a mantra, help yourself out. It doesn’t matter. What matters is this: sit, eyes closed, and do nothing but breathe for 15 minutes. You can do it longer, but the minimum is 15 minutes.

I can tell you what will happen already. People are not that different.

First 1-5 minutes: your mind will race on what happened today.

5-10 minutes in: “Why am I doing this? This is a waste of my time.”

10-15 minutes in: you finally give it in and relax.

I can’t overstate how important it is to focus on breathing. Long inhale and long exhale. That focus will keep you from thoughts like “I need to stop this” or anxious, nervous feelings.

One side benefit of doing this before bed is that you will sleep much better.

Now, being mindful helps you to focus. This entire leadership challenge series is all about enhancing your leadership presence online. What better enhancement do you need for your presence than more focus?

And you will need that focus because next week’s challenge is about thought leadership. We will get back to content creation but with a strategic twist. See you there!

If you have any questions, do let me know. I’m happy to help you.

Until next week,

Peter

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Leadership Challenge #4 - 5 steps for creating trust in your company

Happy Saturday,

Welcome back to my weekly newsletter on the future of leadership.

Welcome back to my weekly newsletter, which is dedicated to redefining leadership for the future. Each week, we tackle a leadership challenge designed for you to engage with at your own pace.

The latest challenges so far:

1. Finding your leadership voice, how to step up as an online leader.

2. Developing empathy as a leader.

3. Beating impostor syndrome to create online content.

This week, we focus on internal team dynamics, on the unarguably most important factor in teams: trust.

As usual, you'll receive the context (why it's important) and five actionable steps (how to do it) that you can implement at your own pace, DIY-style. Expect to invest about 3-4 hours in total. Let's get started.

Why does trust matter in remote teams?

All of the words of this question matter: trust matters, especially in remote teams. But why?

First of all, let’s start with trust.

Every leader knows the three principles of trust in teams:

• The higher the trust within your team, the more clarity you have with your team.

• The more clarity you have with your team, the better the engagement is within your team.

• The better your engagement is within your team, the better your team’s performance is.

So, as a leader, your most important internal goal is not to wiggle with performance metrics or have more meetings to gain clarity but to create an environment for your team that nurtures trust.

Because if you have more trust, all the other figures will improve almost naturally.

Second, let’s address the problem of remote teams.

Trust is naturally built with two factors: proximity and time.

If you are in the same location as others, trust happens naturally. You have to be a real jerk to be unable to build trust with others in an office. In remote, even if you are an angel, you won’t be able to build trust without intentionally doing so.

If you spend more time together, the elapsed time builds trust naturally. However, when you work remotely, the job market is global. If you don’t like a company, you can get a new job overnight. Add that to the generational traits of job hopping, and you have people coming in and out of your team.

Hopefully, by the end of this challenge, you can solve the proximity and the time problem. By intentionally creating a trusted workplace, your retention numbers improve.

Regardless of your business or operational preferences, the fundamentals are still true. Companies are a bunch of people working towards the same goals, and people are the same, whether they work remotely or not.

So, let’s dive into trust and how to build authentic connections within your team. 

The steps are not interchangeable this time. Do them one after the other.

Day 1 - Audit your ops

Start an ops sheet. As the leader, you have a fine understanding of what is happening within your business (hopefully).

Column 1 should be the operational category. The basics are all the same for everyone. You have Finance, Project Management, HR/People Ops, Sales and Marketing, Admin, etc. Depending on the complexity of your business, make subcategories (Finance - Revenue, Finance - Cashflow, Project Management - Product Development, etc.).

Column 2 should have a score of 1 to 3, which indicates the level of transparency of that operational category. Score each category from 1 to 3.

1 - Transparent only to you, no one else internally

2 - Transparent only to you and a few other leaders within the company

3 - Transparent to the entire team within the company

The goal is to strive to have 3 in most categories.

Of course, the devil is in the details. For example, Finance is the most sensitive data in any company: some companies share the quarterly earnings and balance sheet internally but keep cashflow closed from everyone internally.

But for now, score each of them as they are now.

Day 2 - Ask: why not 3?

Go back to your scoring sheet. For every category where you don’t have a 3, ask yourself: why not 3?

With that question in mind, add Column 3. That’s for improvement: what can you do to improve that 1 or 2 score? Write down the task or approach and what you will do to improve.

The goal isn’t to get all categories on a score of 3. Well, that would be amazing. You would become an open company. But not everyone can be that way. The goal is to improve the existing number, even if it is a slight improvement.

Day 3 - Create/amend your information hub

If you are a leader of a remote company, you probably have an internal hub. We called it intranet back in the day. Now you have all the tools, such as Almanac, Notion, etc. It is where you share information that has not been changed daily with your team.

If you don’t have one, create one. That might be a bit too much of a task for this challenge - maybe hire a consultant or give the responsibility to someone as it is a greater task than the reality of this challenge. Having one is mandatory for a remote team. And before you ask, your Google Drive is not a hub.

Amend your hub based on the scores you did. Anything that is 3 share it with everyone, even newcomers.

By doing so, you implement operational transparency. The more transparency you have, the higher the trust is. Transparency is about only one thing: access to information.

The wider the access is to information within your company, the more transparency you have. Your hub is the best place to manage that access.

Day 4 - Build a synched connection between your people

In a remote setting, you would be surprised how little people know about what is happening within the company. In the office, people get information organically and naturally through proximity and time.

So, you must establish an intentional habit of sharing and discussing information with your team, especially about the company's big-level insights.

The best option for that is a monthly recurring meeting. All-hands.

Make the meeting to your liking, but share 3 key things:

1. Financial performance of the month, especially revenue progress and key figures.

2. Project performance of the month, especially product development.

3. Next month’s plans and goals.

I would also include people ops updates on key team members of the month—top performers, new joiners, etc. People need recognition.

Make it a habit and do it every month.

Day 5 - Set up an internal newsletter.

I have seen this only at a handful of remote companies, but it was a habit for most “old school” companies I have worked for.

A simple email communique written by you is sent to everyone once a month. You can use the content of the monthly synched meeting and add some spice of your own to it.

It is a very simple thing, but it boosts the trust within the company. Everyone will know where the company is headed, what you, as the leader, think, and where your focus is. It can be done even if you are a team leader, not the CEO.

With these five steps, you move in the direction of creating a better, more trusting workplace for your team. This challenge was one of the hardest ones so far, as there are so many things that you can do to do more.

But everything starts with five steps. You do the walking once you are in the rhythm.

——

This newsletter content will serve as the backbone of your thought leadership program, which will be public for your team and everyone online.

Next week, the challenge will be about keeping the slience, listening, and hitting pause. Why is it important, and how can it be done?

If you have any questions, do let me know. I’m happy to help you.

Until next week,

Peter

---

Leadership Challenge #3 - Beating impostor syndrome

Happy Saturday,

Welcome back to my weekly newsletter on the future of leadership.

Every week, we do one challenge to help you develop your leadership skills as a remote leader. The ultimate goal for all the challenges is to enhance your leadership presence online.

The latest challenges so far:

1. Finding your leadership voice, how to step up as an online leader.

2. Developing empathy as a leader.

This week, we are beating impostor syndrome together by taking the first step in creating content online.

As always, you will get the context (why) and 5 actionable steps (how) to complete the challenge at your own pace, DIY. The total time investment is around 3-4 hours. Let’s go.

Why do you need to start now?

If you are following either these challenges or anyone who creates professional content on social media, you would know these facts:

• On almost all social platforms, only a handful of 2-5% of the people create content, and the rest are passively consuming it.

• The quality of content has almost zero correlation to the increase in key figures for these creators in revenue, hiring, new opportunities, networking boost, etc.

• Sure, it's hard to keep up with content production, refine your content for your audience, and stay focused. But starting to do it is harder.

We all fear judgment. Everyone has the same thoughts:

• I’m not interesting/unique enough to publish my thoughts publicly.

• If I publish something, it might backslash my business.

• I am overwhelmed by advice and strategies.

I know, I’ve been there.

I’ve been publishing daily content on LinkedIn for the last 2 years.

It was the best thing that I could have done for my business.

But I had these same thoughts as you might have now.

Today, you will get five actionable steps to beat these and start publishing online.

But first, let’s address these 3 thoughts separately.

I’m not interesting/unique enough to publish my thoughts publicly.

That is not true. If you are leading an online team, all your learnings (good or bad) are super useful for the community.

If they are similar to others’ learnings, that's good! You will get to know like-minded leaders. It's an amazing option for networking.

If they are different from others’ learnings, that’s also good! You will have the chance to teach others some important lessons.

If they are controversial to the status quo, that’s even better! You will build up a loyal follower base fast.

If I publish something, it might backslash my business.

Content creation is inherently different if you are a freelancer/solopreneur, founder/entrepreneur, or team leader. The goals are different, so your angles on content should be different.

I have one simple trick to address this.

If you are responsible only for yourself (freelancer/solopreneur), you don’t need to care about this. Take the risks. You can change your content angles anytime. Just go ahead and do it.

If you are responsible for others (you have a company or work for a company), do the necessary research before jumping into the jungle. In the previous challenges, we addressed finding your voice and showing empathy - those are good enough to get you started.

Lastly, ask yourself: what if I NOT publish something? What opportunities will I miss for my business? The need to do this should be stronger than your fear.

I am overwhelmed by advice and strategies.

Yep, that’s a reasonable fear, as there is a lot of noise about how to create content online.

I will give you 5 steps to help you focus and start. But before that, let’s set the foundation for focus. Do these steps first:

• Ignore all the social media platforms for now. Focus only on LinkedIn. That is a professional network, B2B, that is best for businesses talking to businesses. You can use any other platform once you are comfortable on LinkedIn.

• Ignore all the tools. Don’t sign up for social media management, analytics, or content creation software. You can’t wing this with resources. You only need a document, time, and your brain to write. Maybe put some music in the background.

• Ignore all the advice and planning. When should I post? What is the best copywriting technique? Do I need to use pictures or video? Should I sign up for this course to learn how to create content? All these will keep you from the most important goal: start.

Now, let’s see the 5 steps that can help you to get started.

The steps are not interchangeable this time. Do them one after the other.

Day 1 - Check your values

On our first challenge, finding your voice, you have created a document highlighting your values, beliefs, most important identity traits, and aspirations.

Get that document in front of you again. Pick 5 topics that you are most excited about.

Create a sheet.

Column 1: your 5 topics.

Column 2: the copy that you will write about them.

Take the day to write the copy in your head. Let it sink, evolve, nurture.

Day 2 - Create a basic content strategy

The difference between a plan/tactics and strategy is that strategy is all about goal setting, while the plan is the tactical implementation of hitting those goals.

You don’t need a plan for now. As said above, it just distracts you from the most important goal: starting.

But you do need a strategy.

Have your sheet from day 1. Somewhere above the columns, put three sentences:

• What is my most important goal for creating content? Have one goal only. Write it down. E.g., “I want to find investors for my business,” “I want to hire better people for my company,” or “I want to get more clients.”

• What is the tone of voice of my content? Be honest with your aspirations. E.g., “Controversial but funny,” or “Dry, professional, but insightful,” or “Inspirational, motivational, and thoughtful.”

• Where do I want to drive my audience from LinkedIn? You shouldn’t create content without driving people to take action. The best action is to drive them somewhere. It can be three things only:

  • To my DMs (either LinkedIn DMs or email).

  • To my website (either a page or a blog/content).

  • To my content platform (newsletter, podcast, etc.)

Put these three sentences on top of your content sheet. It serves as a reminder for you: this is your strategy.

Day 3 - Write 5 content pieces

Don’t overcomplicate it. Text always works. If you want to use a picture, use a simple selfie. But focus on the text.

Have your content sheet with your 5 topics. Write a content piece for each topic.

Follow some basic copywriting rules when writing. Here are the 5 most important ones:

• Plain English > Complex English. Write how you would explain it to your partner or non-industry friend. Simplicity over complexity.

• Short > Long. Use one comma per sentence. Use a maximum of 7-10 words per sentence. Use short, simple words.

• Make it easy to read. Use line breaks. Use bullet points. Readers skim through content; your LinkedIn update takes 3-5 seconds.

• Structure your content into 3 sections:

  • Attention: a short sentence that grabs the attention. Questions, numbers, or bold statements always work.

  • Takeaway: the actual content piece that you wanted to write anyway. Longer, informative, whatever you prefer.

  • Action: a short sentence that drives action. Remember your strategy: drive people to your desired exit point.

• Don’t overcomplicate. Use a max of 1-3 emojis or hashtags (if any), and tag only those who will respond.

Day 4 - Clear up your LinkedIn profile

Before publishing, let’s clean up your LinkedIn profile. When people read your content, the first thing they do is check your profile. You don’t need to do much, just the basics. You can change it along the way.

• Have a sharp profile image. Professional, with a visible face. It helps if you smile. Selfies and pictures from vacations won’t cut it.

• Create a LinkedIn banner. There is unused and free ad space above your profile pic. The basic approach is to explain what you do and where you drive people to. Do it in Canva; it takes 5 minutes. City skylines won’t cut it.

• Write a tagline. Follow the basic approach: I do THIS to help THEM with THAT. Your title alone won’t cut it.

• Unlock your Creators Account so people can follow you, and you can get more options from LinkedIn. Sign up for the Premium. Fill out the profile according to their instructions.

• Tidy up your CV section. It is often ignored, but people do check it. Less is more, especially if you are an experienced leader with a long track record. Add an About section where you describe your tagline in more detail.

Your LinkedIn profile is your landing page. Treat it as one. You can enhance your profile with even more stuff, but completing these basic steps is good for now.

Day 5 - Hit publish

It is time to publish your content.

When, you may ask? Depending on our target audience and their geographical location, we should aim for their mornings or their lunchtime. 1:00-2:00 pm GMT is a good approach as it covers a lot.

You can publish manually or schedule it for later publication on LinkedIn. It doesn’t matter. Respect your schedule.

The first week is the hardest. It is the first step.

If you’ve done all the steps, you have a content plan to replicate for the next weeks.

Feel free to tag me if you followed this challenge so I can see if you did these steps. I’ll respond and serve you some initial engagement with your content - it helps with the algorithm.

If you have any questions, do let me know. I’m happy to support you.

Next week, we will tackle a more internal challenge: building authentic online connections with your team. See you there.

Until next week,

Peter

---

Leadership Challenge #2 - Practicing Empathy In 5 Steps

Happy Saturday,

Welcome back to my weekly newsletter, dedicated to pioneering the future of leadership.

Each week, I dive into a challenge designed for you to engage with at your own pace. These challenges are designed to enhance your remote leadership skills, offering context, potential wins, and actionable steps.

Last week, we focused on finding your leadership voice. If you’ve missed that, here you can read it to catch up.

This week, we're focusing on the second challenge:

Enhancing Empathy in Leadership for Remote Teams.

Let's explore the significance of empathy in remote leadership and how you can elevate this skill. Because yes, empathy is not a trait but a skill.

Why does empathy matter?

In distributed teams, empathy becomes the lifeline of effective leadership. Without the physical cues and environment of traditional office settings:

• There are no "water cooler" moments for casual check-ins.

• You can't gauge mood or morale from across a room.

• Team members' challenges might remain hidden behind screens.

Empathy allows you to bridge these gaps, creating a supportive and understanding team environment, even from afar.

Empathy, in general, is also a key skill for every leader. Without diving into the HR-voodoo terms, I firmly believe that empathy (or the lack of) directly translates to 5 key metrics in business.

• Performance. If you show empathy and support, your team becomes more engaged.

  According to the latest Gallup study, engaged teams perform 21% better. Higher engagement translates to better performance, which translates to higher revenue.

• Retention. The more engaged your team, the lower your turnover rate.

  A turnover costs 1.5-2x of a team member’s annual salary. The better your retention rates, the more money stays in the bank.

• Innovation. Google’s Aristotle Project shows that psychological safety is the no1 factor in successful teams.

  If your people feel safe, they speak up. If they speak up, they take risks. If they take risks, they express ideas without fear. If they express ideas, they innovate more. Empathy directly impacts psychological safety. The safer your workplace for your team, the more amazing ideas you generate as a business.

• Bottlenecks. Empathetic leaders dig up the root causes of problems faster.

  Yes, you will still have misunderstandings, especially remotely. But the question is how fast you can solve them. The faster you are, the less time your team is misaligned.

• Reputation. Lastly, your reputation is on the line here. I don’t want to dive into this too much, but if you are a jerk boss, people will be happy to tell others.

  A leader with a bad reputation will always have difficulty recruiting A-players. And we all know that mediocre people build mediocre companies.

How to practice empathy - the 5 key action points for you.

As with all these challenges, I designed it to fit your schedule. Each action point takes 30-60 minutes daily to complete as a task.

It works like a gym. You do the small reps. The total time investment is around 4 hours. The tasks this time are interchangeable.

Day 1

Practice active listening.

This will be the hardest part to do for most leaders. We tend to annex a meeting and talk it through.

In the worst cases, we all know the scenario: the CEO talks uninterruptedly for 30 minutes, and that was the meeting.

The task is simple. Track your meetings for a whole week.

Pull up your phone. Start a stopwatch.

Any time when you speak, start the stopwatch. Measure the minutes of your speeches.

The goal is to keep it below 10% of the total meeting time.

Day 2

Give up your driving seat.

Almost every leader has a status meeting with their teams. It is when you gather reports on what is going on from multiple people at once.

Hopefully, this doesn’t happen on a daily basis (ditch those daily standups, jeez!), but it almost certainly happens once a week, at least.

Ask a random team member in these meetings to run the meeting instead of you. Give up the control.

Day 3

1:1 with all.

This is especially important in a remote setting. In the office, we tend to recognize if something is off with someone. Online, it’s harder.

We have to be intentionally interested in others.

Having a 1:1 with your team members is the best way to do it. Organize 1:1 sessions (15-30mins) for the entire week with your team members.

Ask them about their personal life, how it affects their work, and how you can help them. Every life is different, and every person is different.

The goal is to learn if someone is struggling and show support (however you can). You don’t need to be intrusive; simply ask if everything is OK with them.

Day 4

Set up an open-door policy.

In the office, it is a practice for most leaders. I’ve seen only a few of them practicing this online.

The task is super simple. Block out at least 1 hour every week from your calendar. Name it however you want (e.g., support hour, feedback hour, etc.).

The meeting should be recurring every week at the same time. A day before, promote it publicly on internal channels so people know.

The goal is to create a space where people can come to you with whatever they want, but not about project-based work issues.

Day 5

Draw the empathy map.

If you did all the tasks above, you probably better understand your team’s dynamics. To make it stick, draw it down.

It can be a simple chart, lines, dots, or a document. Whichever is more convenient for you. The key is to write/draw it down.

Visualize or write down how each team member relates to each other. What are their problems, issues, challenges, and attributes in life?

If you can, update the map from time to time. In months, you will see this dynamic changing. If someone is a weak link for whatever reason, the map can help you attend to the problem—even before it manifests as a problem.

—

Empathy is a skill that you can practice. It is not a trait that you are born with. These tasks can help you to nurture this skill.

I’ve left a personal reason why this empathy ‘thing’ is important.

During my 20 years of career, I’ve had a fair amount of a-holes in my life. Almost all the jerk leaders I knew had one key thing missing: empathy.

Some were even close to a classic sociopath.

You can’t run a business just based on numbers.

A company is a company of people. The better people you have, the better business you manage.

The entire leadership challenge series is focused on having a presence as a leader, being a thought leader, and being someone who deserves to be followed.

You can’t just go to the jungle without understanding yourself and others. No one will relate to you.

Last week, we focused on you, on your voice. This week, we focused on others.

Next week, we will finally dive deep into content creation and how to create leadership content, which will be the baseline foundation for your thought leadership program.

If you have any questions so far, do let me know. I’m happy to help you and guide you through this.

Until next week,

Peter

---

Leadership Challenge #1 - Creating Your Leadership Voice

Happy Saturday for Leadership Anywhere readers - a weekly newsletter on the future of leadership. 

Every week, there is a leadership challenge in which you can participate at your own pace. Every challenge defines the why, the what, and the how, providing context, possible wins, and replicable action steps. 

This week marks the first challenge: crafting your leadership voice online.

Let's dive in.

Why does your voice matter?

Leadership is inherently different online than it is offline. 

Your traditional signals for being a leader are out of the window online. 

There is no corner office on Slack nor a dedicated parking space.

You don't need to dress up for a Zoom meeting.

You can't pat the shoulders of team members when you walk the floor.

Online, you have only your presence. 

To be more philosophical, we are equally all just pixels on the screen.

So, how do you stand out as a leader?

How can you make your voice heard?

How can you describe your vision?

How can you transfer your mission? 

We all know no one will follow you anymore because of your title. 

It is impeccable to create your voice. 

Share that voice. 

Get people around you. 

Unite them for the common cause. 

This week's challenge helps you to do just that.

What can you win or lose? 

Let's start with the bad news.

It is easier to disappear online. It is easier to be unseen. 

In the office, everyone knew if you walked in. 

On Slack? Or, even worse, on your internal company hub?

If your team does not see you, you are not there for your team.

Your vision won't be clear for everyone.

No one will implement your company's mission.

No one will know what to expect from you or what you expect from them.

It's hard to build a high-performing team online if the leader is not present for them with a clear mission. 

The wins are the exact opposites. 

Your sound voice will give your team more clarity and alignment. 

Internally, you will have the opportunity to support, influence, and mentor your team. 

But it won't stop there.

A leader who's active online with a solid presence will unlock an army of benefits:

Clients, customers, new hires, and investors will all find you more easily.

Other leaders will be more likely to network with you, leading to great learning experiences.

The wider audience will supply you with more PR and partnership opportunities.

Oh wait, it still won't stop there.

From my personal experience, I can tell you that spending time finding and articulating your voice will be the best self-reflection exercise you can do professionally. 

Finding and sharing your voice will teach you a lot about yourself. 

It's a nuke for personal development. 

It is constant learning. 

It is ever-evolving self-development.

The most confident leaders out there are publicly sharing their journey. 

And confidence is contagious. 

Before discussing how and actionable steps you can take to find your voice, let's address an important point.

Most leadership development professionals and coaches usually tell you this: just start publishing online. 

It's because most of them never worked as leaders. I did.

While I agree that we need less thinking and more doing, I also believe that presence can be risky for leaders. 

Exposure can lead to miscommunication and misalignment. It literally can hurt your business and goals. 

So I always recommend this: spend some time figuring out your voice first, position yourself, and then do any action publicly. Work with that risk, don't ignore it.

Now that that's out of the way let's take the actual challenge and see what actionable steps you should take to find your voice.

How to find your voice? Five practical tasks you can do in a week. 

We are all busy, so I created this challenge to fit your schedule. 

It takes about 30-60 minutes every day to complete these tasks. 

It works like the gym. You do small reps every day. 

Total time investment is around 4-5hrs. 

The tasks are not interchangeable. They are built upon each other.

Day 1

Audit your current online presence. 

Start a document. Name it "Public Me."

First, pull in all the online platforms you control—your LinkedIn, etc.

Second, do a Google Search on yourself. Pull in the findings. 

Third, score yourself on each platform & find from 1 to 5. 

1 - This is not how I want to be seen by others. 

5 - This is how I want to be seen by others. 

Be honest and brutal with yourself. It's only you. 

On those where you added less than 5 as a score, add a couple of bullet points in the document on how you would improve the image to get a 5.

This task gives you an immediate self-reflection on the current starting point of your journey. 

Day 2

Define your leadership identity.

Start a document. Name it "Values."

Yes, almost all the tasks on all the challenges are writing tasks. I will explain why later, but as an online leader, you must become an amazingly clear writer. There are no workarounds—just practice.

Write down your answers to these questions:

What values are important to me personally and professionally?

What is my goal with my work? What is my mission as a leader?

What are the ideal qualities of a person I work with (regardless of position, title, or work)?

How do I work as a leader? What are my routines, habits, and practices? What is my style?

What excites me in business? Can any industries, creative endeavors, innovations, or even other leaders give me a spark? 

What is my legacy? How do I want others to remember me professionally?

Don't overthink it. Just write it down. 

The faster you do it, the better. 

The more organic you do it, the better. 

If you can, do this task in the morning or before bed. 

This task gives you the first clear opportunity for self-reflection.

Day 3

Build up your confidence.

Surprise, but start a document. Name it "Confidence."

Write down things in two categories. 

a) Things that you are good at. 

Some people enjoy finding errors in data sets. 

Others love working with people.

I personally love to inspire through writing.

What are the workflows that you enjoy most? 

What are your strengths? 

b) Things that you want to be good at.

Aspirations drive us forward. 

Write down things that you want to excel in. 

I want to become a better speaker and be better on video. 

What are the workflows that you have yet to master?

It has to be personally important to you. 

Write down only those that you want to improve. 

Not because others want you to improve or expect you to. 

But because YOU want it.

This task gives you the mental boost to focus on your strengths and aspirations. 

Day 4

Reflect on yourself.

Pick the documents from days 2 and 3. 

Highlight keywords from the text you wrote. 

You will probably find pieces like these: "direct communication," "creating X experience for customers," or "providing X for my team." 

Collect these keywords. 

Now, pick the document from day 1. 

Do you have those keywords mentioned on the platforms and findings about yourself? 

If not, think about how you can put those in. 

This task acts as a mirror for you. What you think you are is not always presented to others publicly.

Day 5

Time to get some feedback.

It's meeting time. Schedule 3 meetings. 

Meet with a leader who works with you on the same level (at the same company). The person can be a co-founder or a team leader. If you don't have one on this level, pick someone closest to it. If you work alone, find someone you have worked with on this level.

Meet with a team member who reports to you. The ideal candidate is someone who is far from the leadership position but not an entry-level junior. Ideally, it is someone who has experienced how you lead. 

Meet with someone whom you trust but you have never worked with directly. It can be a close friend, someone from your industry, or an expert you know. Family and significant others are a no-go. 

Be honest and open. Tell them you are trying to improve your leadership practice and want their feedback. 

Ask them how they see you as a leader. How good is your job? Where do they see room for improvement? Where should you focus more? What do they love when they work with you? What do they think about the kind of leader you are and the kind of leader you can be? 

There are no right or wrong answers. 

These will be hard conversations, I know. 

None of them will be fully honest, I know. 

Everyone knows limited information and/or has skin in the game. 

That's fine. The goal is to gather feedback. 

During the week, you've spent much time reflecting on yourself and finding your voice. 

If, during this personal feedback, others describe you in a different picture, you might have a problem. Time to adjust and amend those documents you wrote about yourself.

Here are some small tips on how to make these conversations easier, but bear in mind that everyone and every situation is different:

• Don't schedule dedicated meetings on these. Just have some questions at the end of a regular meeting with others.

• Don't ask them to provide feedback on you. Ask them to tell what they think good leadership means. 

• The more open and transparent you are, the better. Vulnerability kickstarts empathy, which leads to more honesty. 

• Tell others you are thinking about starting a newsletter or blog on leadership practices within your company (which is true, see later challenges). Ask them what they would write about. What do they think you should write about?

It is probably the hardest of the tasks within this challenge.

If you did all five tasks, you have a solid understanding of your voice. 

You are more confident and ready to step out to the public. 

But before you go all-in, there's one more challenge you need to take. 

And that is the challenge of empathy. 

You can't understand others without understanding yourself. 

But as a leader, you work FOR others, for your team. 

So empathy is the most important "skill" you need to master. 

That will be the focus of next week's challenge. 

If you enjoyed this week's tasks, share it with others. 

If you have any questions, reply to this email, and I'll be happy to help.

Until next week,

Peter

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The 5 learnings from 2023 on async work

Hey there, my last newsletter covered my main focus in recent months: leadership presence.

In this one, I want to summarize what I learned on asynchronous leadership practices in 2023.

Last year was a big year for async practices.

We’ve had new shiny tools, amazing books published, and many distributed companies sharing their best practices.

I was also heavily involved in async operations.

So, after all the learning, here are the essentials of async work. I made it into 5 points for easier consumption.

01. At least 60% async ops is mandatory for distributed teams.

Business operations have 5 areas:

• Legal & Finance

• Project Management

• Alignment & Governance

• Revenue (Sales & Marketing & CS)

• Investment (Innovation & Ideation)

At least 3 of these should be almost fully async.

Ideally, most of them should have some level of async workflow.

Legal, finance, PM, and most revenue ops are easy guesses, but I would also further ditch most of your alignment & governance meetings.

It is mandatory because there is no office. Also, in most cases, there is no shared timezone either.

Location and time independence force you to build a solid system of async operations. Otherwise, you and your team will not know what is happening.

02. Documentation is just a start. The structure is more important.

By this time, everyone knows that documentation is the foundational stone for async ops.

But it is just the start.

Documentation has one single goal: to provide clarity by increasing transparency.

If you document everything without a structure, it becomes chaos.

So, structuring your documentation hub is more important than ever.

Here’s my 5-category approach that is simple and works for everyone:

• Start with archiving. Transcriptions, recordings, etc., are all gathered passively in a folder.

• Build support documents on top of archives. These are your summaries, memos, and short-form conclusions.

• Create action plans from support documents. All activities should move the needle forward, so create to-do lists and action plans from support documents.

• Guides and manuals. If you do something more than twice, put it in a guide so others can replicate and amend it. Saves time.

• Policies. What you do all day should be included in policies. These are your “how do we conduct our business” documents.

It’s simple. Easy to tailor to your needs. Works for any business.

03. Practice means integration.

Successful distributed companies practice async workflows.

This means they try it out for certain activities first. If it works for them, they integrate it into their workflow.

Integration can work on many levels:

• Async collaboration makes it to the project management system

• Async decision-making becomes part of the leadership practice

• Async feedback and mentoring become part of the management

It depends on the company and the team what sticks.

But great ones experiment and learn what works.

04. It starts with the leadership.

Obviously, right?

As with any new methodology, it won’t fly if you don’t get the management buy-in.

But with async, I have noticed that leaders make it super public if they practice async with their teams.

It is part of their culture. Part of the overall practice of work.

It partially boosts their productivity, solves their teams' distributed fragmentation, and is a great way to attract future talent.

Now, as with anything marketing, you should be cautious. Not everyone who says they practice proper async work does practice async.

But those who do? They have the added benefit of a marketing boost for their company, not to mention their leadership presence.

05. People love it.

Most people who follow me would say, “Oh, of course. People love async, as it gives back time and clarifies everyone.”

I’m naturally skeptical, and I’m the guy who dares to ask the question “why” 100 times over in a row.

So, I thought async would work for only certain people.

For those who can make grown-up decisions on their own.

Those who can own their time. Their workflows. The way they work.

Most people are not like that, so I thought they wouldn’t benefit from async.

Turned out I was wrong.

In all reports in recent years, when companies measured employee engagement, productivity, and retention numbers, we saw the same insights:

• People value deep, uninterrupted work, and they hate interrupted micromanagement workflows.

• People can juggle their own time or at least need to do so. They want their employers to allow them flexibility.

• Lack of transparency, clarity, and flexibility are among the greatest causes of why people leave their jobs.

More importantly, people value these, sometimes even more than their salary. They would prefer to work for a company that offers more flexibility, even if it pays x% less than their current employer.

So my question is this:

Building up at least some level of asynchronous practices in your company doesn't cost money. It only takes time. Why not do it?

Until next week,

Peter

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Crafting your leadership presence - a 3 step method

Hey there—as a restart on the Leadership Anywhere newsletter, I wanted to focus on one of the most important topics I’ve become acquainted with in the last year: leadership presence online.

I spent 10 yrs in the office and another 10 online, leading teams.

One of the most fundamental differences was how leaders were perceived by their teams.

In the office, it was simple. Online, though, clarity was harder to achieve.

We are wired to follow directives, but those can get fuzzy when we are online.

Misinterpretation, lack of understanding, and the more global your distributed team is, the more likely you will have cultural problems.

That’s where a transparent leadership presence can help.

By enhancing your virtual visibility, you gain a platform for your vision and become a beacon of stability and clarity for your team.

Here's how it strengthens your leadership:

• It ensures your voice guides your team, even when miles apart.

• It sets the stage for how you are perceived.

• It cultivates an environment of transparency and trust.

I have a simple 3-step method to teach others how to craft their online leadership presence.

Step 1: Declare Your Leadership Identity

Document who you are as a leader. Sit down and write it down. Be honest with yourself. It is just you who’s sitting at the desk now.

Craft a "Personal User Manual.” Polish it up and share it with your team.

This manual defines your leadership ethos, decision-making processes, and communication preferences.

It’s an internal starting point for who you are as a leader.

Step 2: Extract and Amplify Your Core Messages

From your manual, pinpoint five key messages embodying your leadership.

Use these as foundations for content—articles, posts, and insights that you can share on platforms like LinkedIn.

If you value directness, honesty, and accountability, great! Talk about how you apply these in your leadership style.

Step 3: Establish Your Thought Leadership Hub

Commit to a long-form content platform, such as a newsletter or blog.

It doesn’t matter where and how much you write. What matters is that you write and share longer content on deeper subjects.

Consistency is your ally; publish as frequently as your schedule allows.

Share your platform openly. What if no one subscribes? No problem. Your team will, and they will know more about you, having better clarity.

The Trifecta of Benefits

Even if you're not in the market to sell a service, solidifying your online leadership presence rewards you with:

• Clarity for Your Team: A transparent look into your leadership style and principles.

• Distinct Positioning: Stand out among leaders who haven't yet seized the power of online presence.

• Personal and Professional Growth: A platform for networking and honing your leadership skills.

At a minimum, you will learn a lot about yourself.

At a maximum, you won’t have to do any hard selling on anything to anyone - your content will speak for itself on your behalf.

Start the journey with Leadership Anywhere

Ready to cast a wider net and solidify your voice as a leader?

Through my coaching, I help leaders build a better presence online.

> Start the journey with a coaching call here.

Until next time,

Peter

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