018 Debora Spar From The Classroom to The Boardroom

Welcome to Authentic Leadership for Everyday People, the podcast that investigates the connection between effective leadership and authenticity. Today, I am speaking with my former professor from Harvard Business School, Debora Spar. In addition to her role at Harvard, Debora served as the President of Barnard College from 2008 to 2017, where she led initiatives to highlight women’s leadership and advancement, including the creation of the Athena Center for Leadership Studies and the development of Barnard’s Global Symposium series. Her current research focuses on issues of gender and technology, and the interplay between technological change and broader social structures.

Debora and I engage in an insightful conversation about the leadership lessons she learned in leadership throughout her career. Debora gets specific and talks about how listening and delivering are crucial to any leader’s success. Debora goes into detail about the Case Method and how she’s applied those tactics from academia to the business world. Finally, Debora provides very practical and powerful advice on how to successfully transition into a leadership role and speaks to some of her latest research as well as all of the trends of which we should be aware.

Key Takeaways:

04:32 – This episode is dedicated to the memory of two of my former classmates, Jay and Greg

06:13 – Today, I’m speaking with Debora Spar who shares her extensive background in academia and business and the major lessons she learned about leadership along the way

11:20 – The Case Method

16:13 – How leading a Case Method class is similar to leading a symphony orchestra

17:57 – Key traits that make up Debora’s leadership style

21:53 – Becoming a leader as an outsider to an organization

23:46 – Listening and getting early wins

26:24 – Biggest lessons Debora learned throughout her career

30:58 – Debora goes into detail on her research

38:23 – Trends we should all be paying attention to

40:30 – Debora’s passions and hobbies outside of work and how they influence how she shows up at work

41:40 – The business clichés that drive Debora absolutely crazy

43:13 – Debora shares some food for your soul

46:39 – And now here’s ‘Haunted Heart,’ a song written and performed by my wife, Susan Cattaneo

Tweetable Quotes:

“I think it’s actually a brilliant way of bringing groups of people to a decision because that’s essentially what the Case Method is.” (15:10)

“One of the things I try to do is find people who, in fact, have different leadership styles because I’ve always felt like I need to balance who I am.” (18:20)

“I think there’s a big difference in terms of growing up in a place and becoming a leader versus coming in as a leader when you’re also coming in as an outsider.” (21:53)

“People are only gonna follow you if you deliver some things early on. So, I was always looking for sincere opportunities to understand what people really need and what they want and how to fix that. Trying to see where you can get the early wins is really important.” (25:22)

“Economics is not just an abstract, dismal science. Economics affects the lives of people, particularly poor people. And we need to bring those people into our understanding of economics, otherwise we’re gonna fail them or fail the system.” (34:37)

Links Mentioned:

Debora’s Website – deboraspar.com

Debora’s Twitter – @deboraspar

Linkedin – linkedin.com/in/deboraspar

Debora’s Books (also available on her website)

Work Mate Marry Love How - Machines Shape Our Human Destiny

Wonder Women – Sex, Power, and the Quest for Perfection

Ruling the Waves: - From the Compass to the Internet, a History of Business and Politics along the Technological Frontier

The Baby Business – How Money, Science, and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception

Debora’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/deboraspar/

Link to ‘Memory of the Light’ by Susan Cattaneo – https://susancattaneo.bandcamp.com/track/memory-of-the-light

Dino’s Email – dino@al4ep.com