The New Portrait Of Leadership: Anton Guinea On Which Legacy Ideas About Leadership Need To Be Discarded, And Which New Approaches To Leadership Should Be Embraced

An Interview with Karen Mangia

Courage: The courage to try something new. To be connective at times and directive at others. To trust their teams to do the things they are responsible for without needing your constant attention. Having the courage to allocate not delegate tasks to their team members.

We are living in the Renaissance of Work. Just like great artists know that an empty canvas can become anything, great leaders know that an entire organization — and the people inside it — can become anything, too. Master Artists and Mastering the Art of Leadership draw from the same source: creation. In this series, we’ll meet masters who are creating the future of work and painting a portrait of lasting leadership. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Anton Guinea.

Anton combines energy, engagement, and enterprise thinking to deliver presentations that captivate audiences and command attention. With over 15 years of dedication to helping leaders create psychologically and physically safe spaces, he has honed his expertise in this critical area. His experience has taught him invaluable lessons that were not fully realized in the first 30 years of his career. Under pressure, leadership is about maintaining emotional and situational control, a concept he calls “Creating Conscious Control.” It emphasizes caring for people and making courageous decisions.

Thank you for joining us. Our readers would enjoy discovering something interesting about you. What are you in the middle of right now that you’re excited about personally or professionally?

Professionally:

I am currently working on a research project, surveying 14 leadersing in multiple industries across 10 questions about “How can leaders be more controlled and calm under pressure”, this will help me improve my business with the feedback I will receive. I am planning to report the result for a Master of Research and to have it published for other business owners to use for their personal development and businesses.

Personally:

Over the end of August I represented Australia at the World Championships Aquathon and Aquabike Competition in my age group. My son also competed, it was a great experience for him that he can learn from and prove to himself he can achieve great things. I have another World Championship Competition coming up in December where I plan on representing Australia.

We all get by with a little help from our friends. Who is the leader that has influenced you the most, and how?

Favourite Leader: Patrick Fordyce (who taught me so much), and met me where i was at the very beginning of my journey yet saw potential in me that I couldn’t. He helped me work on my strengths and gave me insight on my weaknesses and how to improve them. He cared personally and professional about my growth and my business.

A few quotes i have learned over the years that have stuck are:

“You can have results or excuses, you can’t have both. “

“If it is a day’s job, and I give you an hour, I need a solid hour (your best work at the right level of detail for the time provided)”

“I’m an introvert, who has learnt to be an extrovert … and people don’t know that.”

Sometimes our biggest mistakes lead to our biggest discoveries. What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made as a leader, and what did you discover as a result?

I was a Maintenance Superintendent before I became a business owner. And during that period of my life I made numerous mistakes. One mistake was a bolt tension calculation done incorrectly. The bolt was overtightened, which damaged expensive equipment that couldn’t be replaced at the drop of a hat. It cost the plant millions of money during that down time and it was a very big lesson for me. Always double check your work, even if you think it’s done to the best of your ability, remember to take a breath and give it another check. Sometimes a tiny mistake could cost you.

As a business owner, I also made plenty of mistakes. From losing a multi-million dollar contract because I hadn’t yet gauged the concept of owning a business. It led me to shut down a previously very successful business. It sent me to the edge of bankruptcy and I spent over three months with a terrible mindset, picking up the pieces. But from that mistake and having to fall back on myself, I have learnt a whole different side of who I am, what I can achieve and what I can put myself through without breaking.

How has your definition of leadership changed or evolved over time? What does it mean to be a leader now?

Leadership is:

Having a positive influence on people, process, and performance by being the example, with the focus of developing high performing and psychologically safe teams.

The reason why teams fall apart or employees leave a company isn’t because they find the workload too much, or too hard it’s because they aren’t being led. If someone has a clear direction on what they need to do to support the team or company it will help give them purpose to put their best foot forward. No one leaves a job because they simply don’t like the work, they leave because they have no direction.

Success is as often as much about what we stop as what we start. What is one legacy leadership behavior you stopped because you discovered it was no longer valuable or relevant?

I stopped being a 1900’s leader. Being brought up with the notion of being firm and focused on the outcomes is more important than being focused on the team. I have been a “peanut” at times. Solely focused on the outcomes without realising the thing i should have been focused on was the person i was leading. Yet I have now learnt to be firm, fun and friendly. No one likes a tyrant.

I have also focused on being more inclusive. Growing up in regional Queensland in the 70s and 80s, there was zero political correctness. So instead of following the old and outdated mentality or herd mentality i have leaned deep into inclusivity not just in the team but who i spend my time around! I make sure everyone I surround myself with is a little more caring and careful, because as long as everyone is having fun then I’m happy!

What is one lasting leadership behavior you started or are cultivating because you believe it is valuable or relevant?

I started a lasting leadership behaviour by learning emotional intelligence or EQ (Emotional Quotient). It was the best thing I have ever done. It’s like a super power, being able to assess and help people around me before they even know they need support. I also studied the mentality of Stoicy. Having the ability to suffer hardship or endure it without showing my feelings has helped me build myself as an individual and a business from the group up. No one likes a leader who takes it out on the people around them. When times get stressful, you want to be able to rely on a leader for support and guidance without the fear of being in the firing line.

What advice would you offer to other leaders who are stuck in past playbooks and patterns and may be having a hard time letting go of what made them successful in the past?

Leaders need to reevaluate their mindset towards leadership and what it mean to them. We aren’t living in the dark ages anymore. Being a leader doesn’t make you the top of the food chain, where you can order people around to do the work you don’t want to. Leaders should also be inclusive. Everyone has their own personal touch to how the work, being mindful of this will help leaders understand who their team truly is and how they operate. I have training programs specifically designed to help leaders shift their mindset and learn new ways to develop a new thinking towards leadership and thinking outside of the box.

Another aspect of improving your leadership is to be psychologically safe. Understand what self awareness is. Not just within yourself but who is around you. Everyone is living very different lives, and it is crucial for a leader to be aware of those around them. Give your team a voice, it’s not about agreeing but accepting. You can’t force anyone to do anything. The final most important factor to take into account is to be open for feedback, ideas and opinions. Sometimes you wont like what someone has to say about you, yet this gives you the perfect opportunity to ask yourself why. Find the reason and work on it.

Many of our readers can relate to the challenge of leading people for the first time. What advice would you offer to new and emerging leaders?

Emerging leaders should try to be a mate. Not everyone will like you or the way you do things, but take their feedback and do your best to think outside of the box. Have the courage to be disliked even after you implement new ideas or systems into your personal development. Make sure to have those robust conversations. Say what you mean and believe it.

Take control of your behaviour, emotions, and situational awareness. This will give others the impression you are calm, collected and in control. The final piece of advice would be to back yourself. Make mistakes, learn from them and share your findings with the team around you. Making mistakes is a part of life. Own it, learn from it and improve for next time.

Based on your experience or research, what are the top five traits effective leaders exemplify now?

1. Integrity (a global value): Integrity is the most important character trait of a leader. It is defined as doing the right thing, when no one is watching, and doing the things you say you will.
2. Control: Emotional control allows behavioural control, this then allows situational control. For example on 25 May, 2021, a Power Station in Central QLD had an explosion that cut power to Queensland — the leaders responded admirably — this incident has inspired my current research of how they demonstrated this emotional and situational control.
3. Care Factor: Putting people first, process second (if you understand the people right, they will take care of the process). Psychological safety is key here. One of our clients (a new car dealership) in Gladstone exemplifies this — by giving everyone a voice. They care (with time), value (listen), and support (wins and failures) their team members.
4. Courage: The courage to try something new. To be connective at times and directive at others. To trust their teams to do the things they are responsible for without needing your constant attention. Having the courage to allocate not delegate tasks to their team members.
5. Recognition: Studies have shown that most team members don’t get positive recognition. Recognition is an undervalued leadership skill. When you see a good leader you usually see them recognising each team member for their specific skill.

American Basketball Coach John Wooden said, “Make each day your masterpiece.” How do you embody that quote? We welcome a story or example.

Recently, I was told by a client, after I did a training day for 7 of their staff, that the client was amazed that every single one of the coachees loved the session (which surprised the client).

They were amazed because “Anton, you are a coach, and a coach is not supposed to ‘gel’ with everyone — usually they gel with a certain level, or a certain role, or a certain gender … but you gel with everyone, no exceptions”

That is the mission, to create a masterpiece where every single coachee becomes a better version of themselves by attending our programs.

What is the legacy you aspire to leave as a leader?

My legacy is currently in action. The Guinea Groups bookkeeper, Allison, spent 12 years with us, before she left to take up a General Manager position for Gladstone Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This was a very proud moment for me, seeing an employee strive for greatness and apply herself to her goals.

How can our readers connect with you to continue the conversation?

Anton Guinea

The Leadership Specialist

Upgrading, Upskilling and Uplifting Leaders
BPSYSC. BBA (HRM). NLP

P +61 418 686 522

E anton@theguineagroup.com.au

A 18 Dolphin Terrace, Gladstone QLD 4680

theguineagroup.com.au | antonguinea.com.au

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to experience a leadership master at work. We wish you continued success and good health!

About The Interviewer: Karen Mangia is one of the most sought-after keynote speakers in the world, sharing her thought leadership with over 10,000 organizations during the course of her career. As Vice President of Customer and Market Insights at Salesforce, she helps individuals and organizations define, design and deliver the future. Discover her proven strategies to access your own success in her fourth book Success from Anywhere and by connecting with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.