Name: Meg Bear

Title: Board Member

Organisation: Heidrick and Struggles

Disruptive Technologist. Change Agent. TEDster. Board Member. Investor. Coach. Wife + Mom. 1st gen college. 5th gen Bay Area. #HCM #HXM #Data #AI #CX

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

I hope Meg's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?

Managing my own energy to be able to meet the needs of the team.

2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I grew up in tech. My early leadership roles being given to me based on technical competence and performance. Later I grew into executive leadership through a more purposeful approach of developing more influence, collaboration skills and cultivating followership by supporting, coaching and mentoring others.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

This is such an important topic for me and one that I've blogged about (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/making-work-better-meg-bear). Today my best work has me with an hour of time to "get organized" for my day, a mid morning workout when I need a brain break and a healthy mix of topics and meetings for most of the rest. I do regular reflections often on Fridays and longer ones quarterly to make sure I am focused on the right things not just the urgent things.

4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

A recent leadership lesson I've been reflecting on is the importance of humor for building culture and trust. Trust is a foundation for high performing teams so having a broad and deep toolkit for building and retaining trust is important for any leader but especially for a transformational one. More here - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/megbear_anyone-who-knows-me-understands-i-take-humor-activity-7141101994487853057-5vCu?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

I have a lot of books that I leverage for my own and my teams benefit. To the topic of transformation Patty Azzarello's Move is a go to. To the topic of understanding the psychology of change my go to is the Heath brothers Switch and to the clarity of Leadership and Impact both of Liz Wiseman's books (Multipliers and Impact Players) are instructive.

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?

Your job is not to fit in but to stand out. Honor your gifts and use them in service of others. More here - https://megbear.com/2020/11/21/honor-your-gifts/

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far?

I recently left a job that I loved. It was hard to leave. One of the upsides of leaving though is the wealth of kindness people offer and the amazing things they say. They remember interactions you don't and they reflect how your behaviors made them feel seen, feel appreciated and feel supported.

It also gives you an opportunity to see common language used to describe your leadership. The most frequent and meaningful recurring phase that people described my leadership style as heart-centered. This was an important thing for me to hear.

When I talk about the importance of being seen ( https://megbear.com/2022/10/26/the-importance-of-being-seen/) and when I reflect on personal challenges (https://megbear.com/2020/07/13/the-importance-of-breaks/) I see that the power of human connection is available to everyone. I believe leveraging the power of human connection is the most important and sustainable value we can bring to the world.