The Tools For Strong Leadership Are Right In Front of You. feat. Ruth Oh Reitmeier and Brent Smith

Owl Have You Know

We’re back with another live edition of Owl Have You Know! And this time, we welcomed two leadership experts to the show, Ruth Reitmeier, director of coaching at Rice Business, and Brent Smith, the senior associate dean for executive education and associate professor of management and psychology at Rice Business.

Certain topics, like cryptocurrency, AI, political polarization, and Jennifer Coolidge's comeback, speak to the cultural zeitgeist. They characterize moments in time. But the topic of leadership, and what it takes to be an impactful leader, is endlessly relevant and fascinating. We all have the potential to be trailblazers in our lives and careers.

Listen as host Scott Gale sits down with Ruth & Brent to discuss their cutting-edge insights on the science of leader development, managing zillennials, and what we’ve learned post COVID-19.

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Owl Have You Know is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

What are millennials looking for in a leader?

31:51 [Ruth] ​​Leadership coaching is built on several things, like empathy, human connection, authenticity, vulnerability, and intellectual humility. If you can embody a coach-like approach as a leader and bring those things to work, you're going to inspire people. You're going to connect with people. That is what zillennials are looking for.

Coaching helps you unlock your potential

02:49 [Ruth] Coaching is one of those evidence-based practices. We know that it's effective. We know that it helps build your leader identity and that a personalized approach can help unlock your potential as leaders.

A leader should be a doer

6:14 [Brent] Leaders need to be very thoughtful about the context that they're in and let that be the guide to what kind of leader they should be, rather than trying to look for a magic answer that might be out there.

The positive effect of pandemic on workplace

33:56 [Brent] If there's been a positive outcome in the world of work for the pandemic, I think what maybe it has been is creating an environment where there's less stigma attached to work, workplace well-being issues, where there's a forum now where people can have a conversation that's meaningful about the amount of stress that they're experiencing, how job demands can be extraordinarily excessive, the compromises that job demands create, you know, and all of those kinds of things.

Show Links:

Guest Profile:

• Ruth Reitmeier - Jones Graduate School of Business
• Brent Smith - Jones Graduate School of Business

Check out this episode featuring Professor Anastasia Zavyalova here: https://business.rice.edu/owlhaveyouknow/season-3-episode-10