Leveraging the Genetics of Leadership With Dan Edds

How Do 0rganizations That Consistently Perform at Elite Levels Approach the Practice of Leadership? They do it by custom-engineering an organizational DNA or genetic code that is systemic.

Leveraging the Genetics of Leadership reveals this revolutionary new approach to leadership. Daniel Edds documents, through meticulous research, case studies, compelling examples, and personal interviews with leaders of organizations innovating the very foundations of leadership. His research comes from multiple healthcare and manufacturing organizations, the US Military, and an elementary school that went from failing to one of the few to close the achievement gap.

Edds feels more than enough books have been written on leadership. But most of those books focus on the importance of personal leadership and how the individual reader can become a better leader. Edds takes a different approach by showing how leadership can be a system that governs how the entire organization operates. He then looks at what the DNA of that system would be, how the system would be structured, and how it would affect productivity, profit, and most importantly, job satisfaction among employees.

“I believe the next generation’s opportunity will not be to acquire and implement more technology but to design the ways humans must interact to unleash the basic human capacity for innovation, creativity, and transformation. If we can do this, the possibilities are endless.”-Dan Edds

Key Leadership Takeaways:

  • Making leadership systemic in organizations will also improve job satisfaction.
  • Systems always produce more than the sum of their individual parts.
  • Most organizations do not teach their managers and leaders how to lead. These leaders largely had to figure things out for themselves, and in the process, they got feedback and input from their staff to help develop a system that worked for everyone. The success of these organizations proves that systemic leadership does work, and it is likely the wave of the future.
  • Millennials want jobs they can emotionally and behaviorally connect with—jobs that help fulfill their desire for lives of purpose with healthy work-life balances. Employers need to understand that they must build a strong employee brand to attract millennials—or go out of business because they will have no workforce left once earlier generations retire.
  • One way to help employees get involved in the company’s leadership is for leaders and managers to stop solving problems for them. Doing so is disrespectful because it undermines the belief that humans are highly intelligent and capable of solving complex problems. Edds says that instead of being a problem solver, a leader must learn to become a problem framer. They must know how to frame a problem accurately so their employees can learn how to solve problems on their own and experience the satisfaction of doing so. This freedom raises employee esteem, creates a sense of ownership, and makes them feel psychologically safe so they feel encouraged to continue to be innovative.

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