The act of leadership is a highly personal pursuit; some do it with an iron fist, others do it with charisma; but, the most admired ones seem to share such a deep respect for human potential that they make it their highest priority to help others grow. If you’ve been around such an individual, you’ve undoubtedly been inspired by their vision, challenged by the breadth of their intelligence, and awed by their sense of wonder. To them, there’s no such thing as business-as-usual; it’s always about the new, better and different or as Larry Page likes to say, it’s about having “a healthy disregard for the impossible.”
I was introduced to the work of Tim Leberecht earlier this year, and was curious to learn about the connection between romance and business. At first, I was a bit skeptical, but about 20 pages into his new book, The Business Romantic: Give Everything, Quantify Nothing, and Create Something Greater Than Yourself, I knew this was a philosophy whose time has come.
In my conversation with him, we explore the following questions:
- What it means to ‘Give everything, quantify nothing, and create something greater than yourself’
- The leadership characteristics of a Business Romantic
- Why is meaning so elusive at work for so many people
- Why Sir Richard Branson & Steve Jobs personify the business romantic while Bill Gates & Warren Buffett don’t
- The ten rules of enchantment
- Leadership and solitude
- The workplace of the future
10 Insights from The Business Romantic — Tim Leberecht from 33voices.com