Most of my readers are familiar with Catalyst, the next-gen leadership conference that takes place in Atlanta, SoCal and Dallas and now has one-day events all over the country. What you might not know is that Catalyst is owned by GiANT Impact, a leadership development organization who also puts on the Chick-fil-A Leadercast event. The CEO of GiANT, Jeremie Kubicek, has just released a new book called Leadership is Dead: How Influence is Reviving It, and he’s taken a few minutes to let me interview him.
TONY: First off, do you really think that leadership is Dead?
JEREMIE: In some people leadership is more than dead, it is non-existent. You see, those who lead for their personal status, wealth or ego have no true influence in the lives of others. They may have authority, but people are not following them with loyalty or respect. Leadership is dead in these types of people.
TONY: There are a lot of books out there on leadership, what sets this one apart? To be blunt, why does it matter?
JEREMIE: Leadership is Dead is written to give people a different perspective of power. Leadership is a vehicle, not the end goal. This book gives practical examples on how to overcome themselves and how to truly influence people for everyone’s benefit.
Most leadership books are full of principals on leadership. Very few deal with the realities of relationships, power and overcoming self-preservation. My writing of this book came in response to leaders asking me how to influence others. That is what sets this book apart.
TONY: I’ve heard you talk about being a liberating leader versus a dominator. What do you mean by that?
JEREMIE: Leadership is power. You can choose to empower or overpower others. An empowering leader is a liberator who wants the best for other people. An overpowering leader is a dominator who wants people to do things for the leaders interest.
You can only know which direction these leaders will go based on the intent or agenda of the leader. Typically you can see this in the wake of their past experiences and leadership.
TONY: What’s one thing leaders can do right now to begin to increase their influence?
JEREMIE: Get real with themselves by uncovering their fear. Most leaders are afraid to lose something (authority, title, salary, etc.) This is called self-preservation. When a leader overprotects the things they are afraid of losing they become defensive, distracted and self-absorbed, which turns people away.
To overcome their self-preservation and increase their influence is to truly become self-aware and deal with the fear. When this occurs people become more free to give of themselves and lead, which positively affects those they are leading.
To become an influencer means that the leader confronts their fear and focuses on giving what others need and want.
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To celebrate the release of Leadership is Dead, Jeremie and his team have assembled a downloadable Leadership & Influence Resource Kit which includes several equipping tools (workbooks, manifestos, videos, etc) to help you make your leadership come alive.
To learn more about Jeremie, you can read his blog at JeremieKubicek.com and follow him on Twitter @JeremieKubicek.
