Leaders as Humble, Audacious, Z-Shaped Coaches

<p dir="ltr">I am excited to share my conversation with AJ Thomas, who I had the pleasure of meeting at the Culture Summit where we were both giving talks. AJ was sharing her perspectives on being a Chaos Pilot at Google’s Moonshot Factory, Called “X”. At the time of this conversation, she’s been with Google for nearly four years, starting as Head of People. </p> <p dir="ltr">AJ is also A CxO in Residence at A.Team AND an Advisor at Magic Eden and SemperVirens Capital. She is also an Executive coach on the side. </p> <p dir="ltr">She’s got a full calendar.</p> <p dir="ltr">X, A.Team, CxO. This is starting to sound like the credit roll on Sesame Street! That is a lot of letters, but we’ll add a few more, like T, I and Z.</p> <p dir="ltr">You may have heard of being T-shaped, as in having breadth of knowledge in general and having depth in one particular area…versus being “I” shaped - having just depth, but no breadth. Breadth is important in any position, because having some breadth means you can more readily engage a broad swath of people in productive dialog, partially because you “get” their inside language enough to collaborate with them. This breadth of collaborative potential is especially important for Leaders.</p> <p dir="ltr">AJ is a fan of being a Z-shaped-leader, which for her means having depth across many different areas, over time, and the ability to connect the dots between them. But while being able to connect the dots, to scan the horizon for innovation and emergent opportunities, to be able to see an Audacious and almost-impossible future AND communicate that vision to others is a powerful leadership skill, AJ sees Humility as an equally powerful leadership value. This puts AJ in excellent company with Dr. Marilyn Gist, PhD, Professor Emerita of Executive Programs at the Center of Leadership Formation at Seattle University, author of "The Extraordinary Power of Leader Humility," and a past guest on this podcast! <a href= "https://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/the-extraordinary-power-of-leade