Rich Cooper, who describes himself as “technically minded with a coaching approach” shared ten leadership principles on LinkedIn. As we found them authentic, wise, positive and forward-looking, we’re sharing them with our readers – we feel they will be especially relevant for those of you aspiring to be leaders, whether at work or elsewhere in your lives. 

One of the commenters on Rich’s original principles described them as “deeply human traits” and made the case that “being the distinctly human beings that we are is critical for current and future leadership as we increasingly augment tech[nology]”. For Protagion’s related take on how we can stay abreast of the changing technological landscape, see our post on embracing new technologies.

Rich’s own professional career experience covers various workplaces, across different industries like financial services, banking and insurance, from different perspectives including technology and management information. He has also had very many career conversations with people over the years, coaching and supporting them to achieve career success, and believes in the impact of job crafting, where employees redefine and reimagine their jobs in ways which are meaningful to them personally and play to their strengths. His blend of technical expertise including data and analysis, as well as people development skills, is incredibly powerful and shines through in his style. 

Read more to discover Rich’s leadership principles, and see how the emotional elements come through strongly too, including his references to the “see-saw of thoughts and conflicts” and self-limiting thoughts.

I’ve previously written that “one of the best things I ever did in my career was to ‘internationalise’ it”, so regular readers will know that I’m a fan of gaining career experience in different countries. This form of career transition is also a way to disrupt yourself and jump to a new learning curve, helping you put lifelong learning into practice.

The advantages of choosing to live in a new country include getting to travel to new places, meet new people (at work and outside work), possibly learn new languages, and have new experiences.

The upheaval caused by relocating is incredibly stressful though, with even more pressure if your family is moving too. The support of your employer can make it significantly easier, including assistance with moving expenses, visas, finding a place to live in your new country, setting up bank accounts etc.

For employers, the benefits include recruitment of foreign talent, which can bring fresh insights or different skills into the organisation, encouraging all employees to extend their own mindset boundaries. Organisations can achieve this in different ways, including operating across national borders (i.e. being multi-national themselves), and through secondments or assignments, perhaps to/from partner organisations.

Read more to discover research on how living abroad can lead to clearer career-decision making, and to watch a video interview with Heather Brilliant, CFA, about her experiences of working internationally.

Another compelling TED talk that prompted me to reflect on my own experiences of the value of debate, and share them (and the video) with you in this post. I particularly love the alliteration Julia Dhar uses, which gives her talk a lyrical quality. One of the YouTube commenters described it as a “well structured, rehearsed and delivered speech”, and I completely agree – you can tell that she is a practised debater herself given how she constructs and conveys her ideas.

As Julia says: “There is so much that the practice of debate has to offer us for how to disagree productively. We should bring it to our workplaces, our conferences, our city council meetings – the principles of debate can transform the way that we talk to one another. To empower us to stop talking and to start listening. To stop dismissing and to start persuading. To stop shutting down and to start opening our minds.”

Read more to uncover two personal anecdotes about debates – my own real-life experience at high school, and how I used debates to strengthen the culture in a team I was building. This post also shares the techniques Julia offers to reshape how we talk with each other so we can disagree constructively, and provides a link to her talk.