The emotional side of business is becoming more and more evident in the world we live in, gone are the taskmasters that only care about the work load you are doing. In our modern world emotions truly matter. A team is only as strong as its weakest link and this show why leading from the heart is so crucial. Mohamed Hammoud is a Leadership and Diversity Consultant who empowers “leaders to unleash their potential, sharpen their EQ and create authentic connections” as said by Mr Hammoud.
1. Please will you explain what truly leading from the heart is?
Leading with the heart is about involving others in decision-making, using your influence to help them rise and inspiring them to become better humans. It is about sharpening your awareness of yourself and learning to create a balance between your head and heart so that you can lead by example and role-model, not role-play by leaning in with compassion and empathy. Finally, it is about being a leader who understands, nurtures others, is focused, a good listener, trustworthy, resilient, and driven.
2. How do you form the courage, self-esteem, and belief inside yourself to overcome the insecurity of being an immigrant and dealing with that societal pressure as well as judgement?
You must face your own fears and move out of comfort as you develop a growth mindset. It was not easy to face discrimination, bigotry, racism, hatred, and even bullying and there were times when I wanted to give up, in fact, I did give up and wanted to end my life. It was the turning point in my teenage years and how I stepped into adulthood, realizing that life was not fair, but it gave you opportunities if you could recognize them and that’s when I realized that when you dive into self-awareness, you develop a resilient approach to turn adversity into opportunity and find that even failure and defeat can be a steppingstone to spiralling to higher levels of learning and being.
3. What lessons did the above question teach you towards learning how to lead from the heart?
I found pain and sorrow in solitude and understood that we could only come out of a dark well when we saw the light of love and acceptance extended to us from someone who cared to be part of our healing and our evolution. Because I had such caring people in my life who wanted to see me heal and succeed and believed in me, I learned to believe in myself and to became a beacon and example for others to come out of their pain and darkness into the light of belonging.
4. Leading strongly differs from managing, how does emotional intelligence separate one from ensuring they are more than a manager but rather a leader?
Managers look after projects, resources and time management and ensure that these work well together to achieve results. A manager can be a subject matter expert and high achiever but does not necessarily have the skillset to be a good leader. A leader can be a manager but doesn’t have to be. Leaders inspire others and they are able to let them weigh in to get their buy-in. They understand the value of involving others and use their influence to help others grow and get better at what they do.
5. What are your three best methods to develop your EQ when wanting to incorporate it into your leadership style?
I have developed a process called the 4Ds and 4Ls: To build self-awareness, you start by learning to diagnose yourself, determining the process to get better, developing the steps to get there and then doing it. To gain an awareness of others, you listen to understand, learn about the needs of others, practice compassion through loving authentically and lead yourself before you lead others and help others walk into leadership themselves.
6. How do you encourage others to want to follow and listen to you?
I am authentic, humble, passionate, and highly motivational. I have stories that inspire and an ability to compassionately relate to others through empathy. I bring a high level of energy and a desire to help others become better version of themselves. I remind myself often that leadership is seldom, if ever, about us, it is always about others.
7. How do you empower your employees to be able to be independent and have confidence in themselves?
When you let people weigh-in, they will buy-in. Don’t tell others what to do, explain and show them and then walk away and let them do it. This is how you delegate and coach others to learn and inspire them to get back up when they fall. You show them what is in it for them and allow them to see their own self-worth. When you can engage your employees, you harness a free workforce, they become your ambassadors, willing to partake in your vision, work towards achieving your mission and sharing your values to govern how they get things done.
8. How can a leader become more aware of their emotions to ensure they do not negatively impact their employees?
A good leader is self-aware, a great leader is aware of others as well and is not afraid to apologize or admit when they are wrong or don’t have the answer. They accept there is no shame in humility, that courage can be found in their vulnerability and that their success lies not in their own success but in helping others become better. When we are led by such leaders, we talk about them positively when they are present and absent, we build trust with them and feel comfortable sharing our fears and failures and are willing to be part of their vision.
9. How does a strong leader maintain the balance between their heart and their head?
Our head helps us make decisions with clarity and logic and our heart helps us move forward with passion and purpose. We need to always find an integrated balance between logical passion and a clear purpose.
Mohamed is a highly educated person who takes this knowledge and uses it in correlation with his 30 years of work experience to teach others. His way of thinking has created 𝐔𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐓𝐑𝐃 leaders who are: 𝐔nderstanding, 𝐍urturing, 𝐅ocused, 𝐋istener, 𝐓rustworthy, 𝐑esilient, 𝐃riven. Mr Hammoud is available for public in-person and virtual keynote speaking, training, group and 1:1 coaching for those that love his methodologies as much as we do at HustlersGlobal.
