Leadership is Upside Down - a Conversation with Silvia Damiano of the About my Brain Institute

Today I bring you a conversation on leadership with a difference – the premise being that ‘Leadership is Upside Down’. My guest in conversation is Silvia Damiano – leader, author, award-winning film director and founder of the About my Brain Institute.

 

Silvia founded The About my Brain Institute in 2009, with the purpose of democratising leadership & neuroscience. She has a passionately held belief, that leaders in our 21st century global economy and their organisations must radically change long-held ideas of what constitutes effective leadership and this is will be the topic of our podcast today.

 

Our conversation begins with Silvia sharing how and why she came to live in Australia from Argentina, how she carved her leadership career in various industry sectors and how she came to realise that how we develop leaders has to change.

I discovered Silvia and her work in 2014 and immediately became a practitioner of her leadership assessment tool ‘i4’ covering the traits, competencies and attributes required for leading in a 21^st Century VUCA world.

Some of the salient points of our conversation include:-

• Lessons from leading a multicultural team at an early age
• Ramón y Cajal – the original discoverer of neuroplasticity
• What 2020 has taught us about the power of leadership
• The evolution of leadership over the years
• Why understanding of the brain is critical to leadership development
• How the i4 Neuroleader model was born
• The making of Silvia’s award-winning documentary ‘Make me a Leader’ 
• The hidden challenges of a pandemic in professional development

Silvia can be contacted on LinkedIn and her ground-breaking books ‘Leadership is Upside Down’ and accompany workbook can be purchased here

Here is the link to Silvia’s TEDx The Rocks talk (16 minutes)

Silvia is also an accomplished poet – enjoy her poem ‘I dream of a Time…’

I dream of a time….
When people who have the power, learn to show humility
When those who become obsessed with getting everything right
come to understand that on occasion
It is absolutely fine to get it wrong.

I dream of a time….
When the analytical learn that communicating with others,
can make all the difference.
And when those who are aggressive,
learn to manage their impulses and be kind to others.

I dream of a time…
When those who have great vision,
Become comfortable with looking at the smaller details.
And when those who lack patience,
Realise that their impatience makes others anxious.

I dream of a time….
When those who are financially successful,
Learn that helping others in need is good for the soul.

When those who yell, realise that intimidation is disengaging
When those who show indecision,
Learn that they are creating doubt in their followers.

And when those who are controlling,
Learn that empowering others is more rewarding.

I dream of a time…
When those who do not want to change,
Learn that they are missing out on the mystery of the unknown,
And when those who wish to be the centre of attention,
Learn that they are not the priority of others.

I dream of a time…

When people realise that leaders who care, are the better leaders
And when people understand that developing our own leaders is essential for a better humanity

#neuroleadership #leadership #neuroscience

Rawthentic Leadership has been ranked number 4 in Australia’s top 25 Leadership Podcasts https://blog.feedspot.com/australian_leadership_podcasts/

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