Michael Virardi: if you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go with others

My guest in this episode of the podcast “Leadership is the Competitive Advantage” is a world-renowned leadership trainer, speaker and best-selling author Michael Virardi. His three main focus areas are leadership, business culture and public speaking. He has written two best-selling books entitled “Positive Impact” and “Crisis? Let’s Beat it”. He is currently working on his third book on the topic of public speaking and communication skills. Michael believes that the tools to grow and be successful are inherent within all of us – the ability to connect, the drive and the passion. I sat down wit him to inquire how one might go about unlocking these qualities. How can leaders tap into these characteristics in order to unlock the immense potential that resides within human beings? “I have seen charismatic leaders who have had hard time getting through to their people. Everybody communicates but very few people sincerely connect. Those leaders who are able to communicate only in the way that they understand themselves are not able to inspire their teams to follow the vision. And I have seen many capable leaders not being able to do that. In my opinion, leaders should care about their people more than they care about themselves. If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go with others. No man or a woman is an island. In order to be competitive, you need to team up with people on a deeper level. And if you care for them, they will feel that you care for them and they will give their blood, sweat and tears to contribute. If you don’t really care, they will definitely feel that as well and they will act accordingly. As a leader, you need to know what motivates each and every person on your team. And you need to be open to the differences that there are so many varieties of factors that can affect the level of engagement of your people. As a leader, you need to be observant and notice your team members’ patterns of behavior so that you can unleash their potential and motivation better. Be more interested in others than trying to be interesting yourself. That is genuine caring.” – Michael Virardi Listen and enjoy!