Sinead Keenan on The Skills Future Business Leaders Need to Have

In the penultimate interview of our Leadership Series was Sinead Keenan, Business Psychologist at SpencerStuart – a global leadership consultancy firm with 57 offices in over 30 countries. We discussed what future skills Business Leaders need to have as well as how to give and receive feedback.

Here are some of the best nuggets of wisdom from our chat:

FLA: Describe yourself in three words? 

SK: Calm, Optimistic and Curious.

FLA: Your favourite book on psychology or leadership?

SK: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. This book has really stuck with me throughout my career and I think you all will enjoy it.

FLA: You have business leadership from two different angles; through your own research, you are also a leader yourself and have plenty of practical experience. Is there a lot of overlap between the two or was there anything that surprised you?

SK: Leadership is harder than it looks. I’m definitely guilty of not practising what I preach. When I first entered my leadership role, like a lot of leaders I experienced imposter syndrome. Who am I to manage this team of extraordinarily talented people? When I worked at Mindgym, we had the best and brightest minds in business psychology. But over the years, I realised that a leader's role is not to be the smartest person in the room or be the key problem solver. You create the conditions for other people to thrive.

FLA: From your experience, what future skills do Business Leaders need to have?

SK: Before I get into the specific skills, let me talk through the presence you need to have as a leader. There’s well-founded research that when we meet people, we effectively ask ourselves sort of two questions. Can I trust this person, are they warm and approachable? Then the second question is are they competent, do they have the skills to do the job? They both are needed, but you should lead with warmth and have a human connection with people as a leader.

Business leaders should be engaged leaders. This consists of three main qualities: 

Clarity – Creating clarity for your team, everyone knows the vision and direction you’re all heading in. 

Alignment – How are you aligning the team, your resources and agendas? Are they being pulled in the same direction? 

Energy – Bring energy and inspire your team.

FLA: Do you have any tips for giving and receiving feedback?

SK: Yeah sure. This was coined by the Centre for Creative Leadership, which is the situation behaviour impact. An example of this could be you have a junior designer in your team pitching to a client, and it didn’t go very well - they weren’t compelling enough. The first part is positive intent, showing that you're on their side by acknowledging their intention and effort before going straight in with the feedback. You are observing their behaviour and what impact this had on the pitch, without judgement.

FLA: What’s the best part about working in business psychology?

SK: Taking interesting, but valuable insights from psychology, which sometimes feels they can sit in books and gather dust on shelves. My job is to distil these principles down and make them useful for people.

If you want to hear more of Sinead discussing psychology for business, listen to the full interview on our Creative Capes Podcast:

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If you’re more of a visual learner, head over to our Youtube Channel @futurelondonacademy

If you want to learn how to be a great business leader, Sinead will be a teacher on our Executive Programme For Design Leaders, inspired by the amazing Bauhaus. Learn more here. Learn more here.