Leading savvy requires that you understand your impact on those around you.  Leading savvy recognises, for your people, situations that might be creating a sense of threat and what might be creating a sense of reward.   And, importantly, how to increase the sense of reward and decrease the sense of threat.

When you are Leading savvy, you lead in a way that is consistent with how the brain works, you tend to get better results.  This does require an understanding of some key elements including:

•  motivation, of yourself and others;
• our strong need for social connection particularly given that we work in teams in business,

whether you are working with or against your brain in the habits that you use and the ability to be able to maintain focused and controlled attention.

In today’s busy environments where leaders have to juggle email, phone calls, calendars, meetings, physical conversations and electronic discussions, leading savvy means you manage your cognitive load rather than simply managing your time better. A subtle, yet important, distinction.  Quite simply, the brain isn’t wired to multi-task.

Helping leaders to understand the importance of emotional control, and, techniques to assist in controlling emotions – which are very often non-conscious – is an important part in a leader’s ability to be able to function well under stress.   What’s more, research indicates that leaders under stress are more likely to over-estimate their own capability and capacity, when paradoxically, their capacity for creativity, planning and problem-solving becomes very depleted.