Heart

In most organizations the leader forms the heart, the central part around which almost everything evolves. If you were to take this heart out unexpectedly, or without someone stepping into that space, the organization will probably struggle to thrive and even to survive.

It happens often that this person who is the heart of the organization, does not have a heart!  Leaders in other organizations, colleagues and employees describes him/ her as "heartless".

It's amazing that you can find numerous websites on "How to have a cold heart", but practically none about how to become a warm hearted person! On how to become heartless, I have sourced the following:
1. Do not accept apologies from anybody about anything.
2. Focus only on the task at hand, not the people involved in getting it done.
3. Do not reflect on, or celebrate successes, always think and talk about what still needs to be done.
4. Be angry at everybody about everything.
5. Always be callous, curt and distant. Do not show any signs of affection or care.
6. Be unavailable and always too busy for talk about personal issues.

If you do this long enough, you will surely become a cold and heartless person. If that is what you want to be.... (I worked with a leader once who actually wanted people to fear him and to experience him as strict and curt!)

By far, most people are positive and enthusiastic about a leader (as well as a colleague or a friend) with a heart. -Rather than the opposite.

So: How do you become a person with a heart? I think the comprehensive answer would be this: Learn to appreciate and love people.  -I say comprehensive, because to learn to appreciate and love people is certainly not simple. For some of us it is really not easy to show interest in people and not only in the tasks that needs to be done to reach the goals that we have set.

If you want to have a heart, you would have to work at this: Learn to listen to people, be more understanding and sympathetic. Be more compassionate. Bé a fellow human. Learn to show some emotion. Show grace!

Think on this: Is your heart for the people you work with growing or shrinking? -What would the implications of that be for you as a person?  -And as a leader?