I was brought up in a Matriarchal Family
Women were the natural leaders in my family and as the first born of my generation, I was expected to 'take over' the family at some point. My family experience was different to the more authoritarian environments I worked in. I became curious about leadership approaches and styles very early in my career.
Karen Meager
Even as a child I was always teaching
I used to put on 'educational' plays for my family. I'm not sure they really appreciated all my efforts but my love of bringing education together with entertainment has always been at the heart of what I do. Just because I teach serious stuff, doesn't mean it has to be heavy.
I started learning psychology as a hobby
I was always fascinated about what made us tick, so started learning psychology as a hobby. Recognising the benefits to my role in the business, my employer at the time sponsored me to do NLP Practitioner. I had no idea how much benefit I would get personally as well as improve my leadership and coaching skills at work. It's amazing how a hobby can become your career.
I believe Leaders are everywhere
When people buy Real Leaders for the Real World, they buy it with business in mind. Leaders are everywhere though, if you are a parent then you are a leader. Leadership skills are needed by everyone as there are always times when we have to lead, even if we don't want to.
I have a passion for bringing out naturally introverted Leaders
In my years of leadership development experience and working life, some of the best leaders I have met have been natural introverts. Sadly in business it's often who talks the loudest gets heard but this is changing and I love working with these people to bring out their skills and build their confidence.
We started writing the book because we were frustrated
We were fed up reading leadership books that were over idealistic, didn't deal with the real world problems leaders had and implied there was a natural leadership type. Rather than complain about it, we decided to write one ourselves.
I'm concerned about men in leadership positions
Suicide is the number 1 cause of death for men under 50. Men experience issues like depression differently to women and often get caught up in addictive activities that may, on the surface, look normal, like working hard, exercise or drinking. Because men are taught to be 'tough' as boys they don't express feelings as easily as women and this can make it hard to deal with, leaving them with a private struggle. More emotionally regulated men is good for everyone and it is one of our missions as a business to change this.
I'm not perfect
There is always more to learn and develop in life and I'm always working on my own traits and this year I'm working on Do what they say and say what they Do. It's about walking your talk and so many of us don't even realise we're not. This year I'm working on letting go of control. I really want other people to step up in Monkey Puzzle and take charge of more things but I find it hard to let them! The team are all being really supportive, even if some of the feedback is a bit painful at times.
My toughest speaking gig was my Grandad's funeral
Speaking to 100 people at a seminar is easy, when I read my Grandad's eulogy at his funeral recently, it really was the toughest speaking gig I have done. I think I did a good job and I hope he would have been proud.
Our next book Time Mastery came from feedback on Real Leaders
The feedback we had from Real Leaders was that people wanted more help with managing time. Time management tools don't work for everyone, so the next book is due out later this year. One advantage of writing it is that my productivity has skyrocketed by putting into place what we are teaching in the book.
About the Author:
Karen Meager is a training design guru, the founder of Monkey Puzzle Training and Consultancy, and co author of award winning book 'Real Leaders for the Real World' (£12.99, Panoma Press) Karen has used her business and human psychology expertise to create leading edge training programmes that deliver both the business needs and individual personal development that we all need.
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