President and founder of Reality-Based Leadership and New York Times bestselling author Cy Wakeman spoke at an exclusive leadership engagement on March 11 at the Hyatt Regency Guam.
The session, “Business Readiness: Leading in Continuous Change and Uncertainty” was sponsored by Bank of Guam and attended by several business leaders and Gov. Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero. The talk centered around adapting to change in the workplace while maintaining a resilient mindset.
Wakeman asked, “How often do you turn ropes into snakes?” of attendees. This meant that people often allow perceived problems to lead most of their worries.
Wakeman described herself as a drama researcher — a person who studies how much drama there is in the workplace. She said the average employee spends nearly 2.5 hours per day on drama.
“Drama is emotional waste,” she said during the session.
Wakeman told the Journal that she wants to move away from the top-down perspective of leadership and instead move toward “influencership.”
Much of Wakeman’s tenets focus on introspection and personal accountability, empathy instead of sympathy, and how to raise the energy of others in the workplace.
Wakeman published four books around the topics. Her 2013 book, “The Reality-Based Rules of the Workplace”, was ranked fifth in New York Times bestselling hardcover business books in June of that year.
For young and aspiring leaders in the business community, Wakeman gave this advice to the Journal. “Mind your personal brands. Figure out who you are today because you’ll be somebody different years from now, but get clear about what your values are and who you are,” she said. “Find out what you have to give and give it freely.” mbj