Howard White, Vice President of the Jordan brand at Nike, embodies the principles of a Big-Hearted Leader. In his podcast episode of This I Believe, he shares more on his driving philosophy on humanity: “I believe every single person deserves to be acknowledged, however small or simple the greeting.”
I have a chapter in my book entitled “Turn Your Organization into a Force for Good,” and it’s a concept I feel very strongly about. Leaders have the ability to galvanize entities into action, and it’s important to optimize that potential to do good in our communities. In the same regard, I really find it to be a moral imperative that as leaders, we offer as much positivity and inspiration to others as we’re able.
While this certainly applies to our organizations and communities, it extends beyond that into the realm of social media as well. The current climate of what can best be described as conflicting and full of animosity is toxic, and we can all do better. Whether we are leaders or aspiring leaders in our professional lives or not, we can apply the principles of Big Hearted Leadership to our individual presence on social media to make a concerted effort at changing the nature of the conversation.
Being generous in your genuineness is one of the five pillars of Big-Hearted Leadership, and applying this principle to our social media lives could go a long way towards improving the climate. As a society, we value vulnerability and the courage to be authentic in others, yet it can be incredibly hard for us to exhibit these qualities ourselves. Big-Hearted Leaders take this risk, and they do it wholeheartedly and with enthusiasm. If each of us vows to increase our willingness to be genuine, and we extend this to our social media channels, we will transform the content our social circles are consuming, thereby initiating momentum for them to feel emboldened to become more genuine in their interactions. We are the authors of social media’s fate, so let’s make it a force for good.
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