4 Principles for Success and Leadership from Eric Motley

My name is Eric Motley and I’m the executive vice president at the Aspen Institute. I wanted to share with you leadership principles that have formed my way of leading and managing. 

Number one people matter. One of the best investments you can make in any organizaztion is in people. Help them to realize work is not just work but it’s a calling. There’s something noble. There’s something beautiful and fulfilling about what they do.

Principle number two is the affirmation of people. People want to be affirmed. Everyone wants to know they’re doing a good job. But also people want to know when they’re not doing a good job. Part of your responsibility as a leader or a manager is to help people to appreciate their faults and their weaknesses, their strengths and their opportunities and to assess those with them in a very thoughtful and caring way.

The third principle would be collaboration. The most impactful, most important discoveries have been made by individuals who decided they can work well with other people. Share ideas and best practices, try to find better solutions, bounce ideas off of others and you’ll see that not only will you perform more effectively and efficiently but you’ll produce greater results.

And an additional principle — inspire curiosity among people that you work with. People want to learn, they want to grow, they want to be a part of a learning community. They want to discover new ideas and when you create an atmosphere of curiosity people are constantly learning.

Those are my four leadership principles that have formed my way of thinking, managing and leading. If you want to learn more about me and my journey you can check out my book Madison Park: A Place of Hope.