The New Portrait Of Leadership: Konstantinos Apostolopoulos Of Fresh Biz Solutions On Which Legacy Ideas About Leadership Need To Be Discarded, And Which New Approaches To Leadership Should Be Embraced
An Interview with Karen Mangia
Curiosity — If we want better answers, we need to ask better questions. Curiosity can lead to better understanding, connection, and learning. It is the sign of a growth mindset that enables greater performance and continuous improvement.
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 Konstantinos Apostolopoulos.
Konstantinos Apostolopoulos (Coach Kon) is the Founder & CEO of Fresh Biz Solutions. This Human Capital Management consulting group provides performance improvement and training solutions to help organizations develop their people, improve business results, and benefit from a comprehensive Talent Management strategy. He is also the author of the best-selling book, “The Engagement Blueprint: Building a Culture of Commitment and Performance.”
Kon is an international speaker and sought-after expert in improving resilience and performance. His first book, “7 Keys to Navigating a Crisis: A Practical Guide for Emotionally Dealing with Pandemics & Other Disasters”, helped establish him as a Thinkers 360 Global Top-50 Thought Leader. He has worked with business owners and senior leaders in North America and Europe, sharing fresh ideas and best practices that engage his audience and empower others to take the next bold step forward in their professional and personal lives.
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?
My most important roles are husband and father. I feel so blessed to experience the fruits of our work together as a family. This past Spring our daughter graduated with honors from the College of Arts and Media at the University of Colorado in Denver and is ready to launch into a career she has been dreaming of since she was 5 years old. My wife and I couldn’t be prouder of her, as we start to realize some of our own dreams, like the ability to split our time living and working between two amazing places we love, Colorado and Greece.
Beyond the personal successes and joy, I am also blessed to live my purpose as a teacher and coach. A few months ago I published my new book, “The Engagement Blueprint: Building a Culture of Commitment and Performance,” which made it all the way to Amazon’s #1 spot in several categories.
Since then, I have been busy speaking and sharing the key messages and frameworks from the book to help business leaders transform their workplace, make employee wellbeing a competitive advantage, and win in their marketplace. They are learning how to ignite the fire in their people without burning them out. And they are finding that this transformation benefits both the employer and the employees. More than a lesson, it is becoming a movement that is creating more human workplaces and healthier cultures, one organization at a time.
We all get by with a little help from our friends. Who is the leader that has influenced you the most, and how?
I have been influenced by a number of leaders who have shaped me — some as a positive example and some as a cautionary tale. One that I would like to highlight is not a business or military leader, nor someone with degrees and accolades, but someone with very little formal education or titles, my late father.
My father is my role model not because he was perfect, but because he made the most with what he had for himself and his family. He showed me the value of hard work and keeping a smile on your face despite the challenges. He always gave his best, from a place of empathy and kindness, often sacrificing to serve others.
He showed tremendous courage crossing the globe to start a new life in a foreign land, without knowing the language or having any special skills beyond his work ethic and desire to create a better life. He never wavered in his commitment to his family and made sure to give his kids the chances he never had. It was his way of leaving things better than he found them, always tinkering to make improvements. He was wealthy in love and friendships and educated by life’s adversities. He remains my hero and my role model.
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?
Early in my career as a young leader, I was asked by my manager to prepare some presentation slides for her to add to her annual update to senior leadership. These slides represented the updates on our initiatives, and a chance to showcase the good work we had done with my team in support of the broader business.
She had given me several days to complete the task and asked me to get my updates to her by the end of the day on Thursday, as she was presenting early on Friday. In my effort to do the best I could, highlight our good work, and prove my effectiveness as a leader, I kept working on the presentation and pushed the completion of the task past the end of the workday and into the night. I finally sent the information to her very late Thursday night, giving her very little opportunity to review and incorporate my content into her presentation.
The next day, I realized what I had done. This was a very big deal for all of us as the effectiveness of the presentation would determine our budget allocation and potentially our next career progression. I did not hear from her until very late in the day, and the silence was deafening. I felt terrible and a little concerned about the ramifications.
When she called me late that afternoon, she wasn’t mad, just disappointed. I had put her in a very difficult spot in front of senior leadership. I created unnecessary problems for her because I made myself and my needs the focus, instead of her and her needs. In that situation, she was the one I was serving, my customer if you will, and I had totally disregarded what she wanted. Her words still ring in my head, “I know you wanted to give me your best effort, but sometimes I need your B product on time, rather than your A product late.”
The lesson I have taken with me ever since is to truly listen to what my customer needs most from me, not what I think it should be or want to prioritize. That applies to all those I serve and support as a leader, not just my customers.
How has your definition of leadership changed or evolved over time? What does it mean to be a leader now?
I was thrust into a leadership role practically since birth. I am the first-born male in my Greek family and that comes with some embedded expectations! Whether from nature or nurture, I have found myself stepping up when needed and embracing the opportunities to lead and take responsibility — in school, in sports, in my military service, and in my professional life. I have always had a need to engage others in making things better.
That goes to the heart of how I define leadership, as taking action toward a shared vision and desired outcome with the willing contribution of others. Leadership embodies vision and action, but it also requires others willing to follow your lead. If with our actions, our words, and our message we inspire others to mobilize then we are leading. As John C. Maxwell says, “If you think you’re a leader, look behind you. If no one is following, you’re just out for a walk!”
What has changed for me over time, however, is the feeling that I have to do it all myself. From having all the answers to working the longest hours to solving every problem, I would always want to get on my white horse and ride in to save the day. Although taking on so much seemed like the right thing to do then, I realized that it takes away opportunities for my team to learn, grow, and contribute in meaningful ways. Teaching learned helplessness and creating a dependency on you is not leadership. Great leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders!
Now I embrace my leadership role as a coach and teacher, being more the super-visor than the super-doer. I use the opportunities to help others become confident and self-directed leaders of their own work. I found that it’s not about me but about the team and our mission.
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?
As I mentioned previously, early in my career I felt responsible for having all the answers to every question. Over time, I realized that no one is as smart as all of us. Especially as I moved into more senior leadership roles, and managed the work of other senior and experienced leaders, it became evident that “telling” them was not the way to lead them.
In fact, I was able to engage my team more when I asked for their thoughts and input on relevant questions. To get better answers, I realized that I needed to ask better questions. That required me to put my ego aside, show true curiosity and interest in what others had to say, and not try to prove that I was the smartest person in the room.
What is one lasting leadership behavior you started or are cultivating because you believe it is valuable or relevant?
I have found that leaders have the ability to create an engaged environment where people can be at their best. The power of engagement allows a leader to increase the commitment and performance of the team, and give them a competitive advantage. The secret to engagement is to help your people feel valued, feel connected, feel productive, and feel supported to learn and grow.
Companies that have employees who are engaged outperform their competitors in all meaningful categories, showing higher retention of talent, higher gains in revenue and profits, higher customer satisfaction, etc.
The work I have been doing with my clients helps them transform their culture and workplace to win in the marketplace!
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?
The demographics of the workforce are constantly changing as older workers retire and younger ones enter the workplace. According to recent studies, around 10,000 Baby Boomers retire every day, which is about 4 million per year. Conversely, Gen Z will reach 27% of the workforce by 2025.
Furthermore, the broad adoption of a hybrid workplace and the growing number of virtual workers have further changed the way leaders manage people and results. That requires leaders to adapt their leadership style to match the needs of an evolving mix of team members.
The complexity of today’s environment requires a more sophisticated approach to leadership and a playbook that can adapt to the times. Leaders can no longer focus on one thing or another in a binary fashion. They must take a more synthesized and flexible approach that combines seemingly opposite directions — they must embrace the leadership paradox.
For example, leaders today need to show empathy and an understanding of the challenges others are experiencing. At the same time, they must offer the “tough love” that comes from clear expectations and boundaries. Empathy and Tough Love are two seemingly opposites combined into a new skill.
Another one could be the need to use the advanced technology available to us to increase our human connection and touch points with our team. High Tech and High Touch create another paradox we must embrace.
A third example could be the need to empower our people while demanding greater accountability. We can do this by moving away from micromanaging outputs (the time spent on any given task) and focusing on the outcomes (the results of the effort).
No matter the diversity in generations, genders, backgrounds, races, etc. present in the workforce, many things make us all human and provide opportunities for us to come together with a sense of belonging and inclusion. That’s why I feel engaging our people in meaningful ways is so critical.
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?
Often new and emerging leaders are promoted because they were high performers in their previous roles. A promotion for them comes as an acknowledgment of their success, along with the expectation they will be able to repeat the same results on a larger scale with their new team. Unfortunately, the best players don’t always make the best coaches.
What helped them reach this new level, may be the first thing they have to let go of because now they are responsible for getting results through their team. The temptation to be the top performer on the team is very big, especially if the expected team results are not happening quickly enough. The need to find success in a familiar role may have them doing, rather than managing, the work.
My advice would be to avoid regressing into the player/coach role and instead focus on transferring their knowledge and systems to help create more high-performers who can do what they have previously done so well.
Based on your experience or research, what are the top five traits effective leaders exemplify now?
Here are five traits I believe are essential for today’s leaders:
- Authenticity — The awareness to know who we truly are, and the ability to act in a way that is consistent with our beliefs and values. In a time of artificial intelligence (AI), we need more authentic leadership and a human touch.
- Clarity — Cutting through the noise and complexity of the world around us. Offering clarity of direction, action, and communication is critical to every leader. Without it, there is confusion and wasted effort.
- Curiosity — If we want better answers, we need to ask better questions. Curiosity can lead to better understanding, connection, and learning. It is the sign of a growth mindset that enables greater performance and continuous improvement.
- Courage — There is no shortage of people who see the right thing to do, but not everyone takes action. It’s not the lack of fear but the acceptance that on the other side is something more powerful and important than whatever scares us.
- Resilience — The capacity to deal with inevitable change and crisis is key. We look to our leaders for the strength to overcome and continue forward in difficult times. I wrote about the roadmap to building resilience in my first book, the 7 Keys to Navigating a Crisis.
American Basketball Coach John Wooden said, “Make each day your masterpiece.” How do you embody that quote? We welcome a story or example.
As a coach myself, I appreciate Coach Wooden’s philosophy and approach to developing good people first and foremost, then good players and a good program. Like him, I am a big believer in empowerment and personal accountability, and I have lived my life with the feeling that if it’s meant to be, it’s up to me. I tackle my goals each day with purpose and a desire to “make it happen”, rather than waiting for someone else to do it for me.
Furthermore, the losses of loved ones over the recent years have reinforced the fact that we are not guaranteed anything and we can’t take life for granted. Each day is a gift and our time is too precious to waste. It deserves our best, and the kind of effort that produces something special. No matter what else is happening around us, we control our attitude and effort, and we have the ability to change the direction of things to produce something amazing, our own masterpiece, at any given moment.
What is the legacy you aspire to leave as a leader?
In addition to coaching business executives and emerging leaders, I have been coaching young student-athletes in the sport of soccer for more than a decade. That’s where the name Coach Kon originates, and it’s a title I carry with pride and a sense of great responsibility.
Over the years I have worked with hundreds of players, mostly girls and young women, in their early developmental years. I have cherished the work that we have done together to develop their leadership and interpersonal skills, their ability to create a vision of what they want, and the confidence to go after it. I have watched them learn how to self-advocate and achieve success — not because someone gave it to them — but through their own efforts and desires. My girls have learned over the years to play as hard as my boys because I have treated them all consistently, as athletes. They have learned how to win because I treated them as champions before they won their first medal. And they rose to the occasion.
Similarly, in my work with companies, I have had the privilege of working with some amazing women — partnering in their efforts to reach their goals, facilitating their growth and development, and advocating for their serious consideration in leadership positions. Especially in recent years, I have been proud of the efforts to support emerging female leaders in traditionally male-dominated industries like construction and manufacturing. These industries realize that women represent more than just the future, they are also a vital part of the present!
More than the wins and losses in sports and business, my legacy is about playing the game the right way — giving our best, loving what we do, enjoying the camaraderie, and achieving more together than we thought was possible.
How can our readers connect with you to continue the conversation?
You can check out my website or connect with me on LinkedIn.
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.
