A good leader leads from their strengths. Joining me today is Ben Ballamy, founder and CEO of Chi Studios, an organization that pulls together top level executives and thought leaders for important conversations. Harnessing the power of alignment.

Ben has such a great perspective on leadership and leadership styles. His view is that authenticity is at the core of good leadership, and it comes from individual strengths. No style is the “right” style, the only right style comes from what works for a leader. There are many types of leaders, those that lead from the front, the side, from behind, or the field and they are all necessary. Ben’s personal leadership style comes from a place of support, fitting the pieces together.

Inauthenticity is at the top of Ben’s list of leadership challenges. He also highlights a challenge that comes with a common belief in the leadership world, “leaders must have an answer for everything”. Another challenge he identifies, is when leaders Lack of confidence to empower the people around them. Problems that can arise from these challenges can  lead the organization in the wrong direction or  end in leaders losing the support of their team.

We are all unique and dynamic with something really important to bring to the table. I love to ask my guests about their special superpowers that can at times be their biggest weakness. Ben’s empathy. In a leadership role, Ben will always wait to make decisions that may hurt people, even to the detriment of the team. This really counteracts with some of his important advice to other leaders, where having the hard conversations leads to success. 

Ben has some really great thoughts and is doing some incredible things in the supply chain world and beyond. If you’d like to learn more about Chi Studios and his team you can check out their website.