I came across this article published by Harvard Business Review (HBR) written by Sydney Finkelstein in 2018.
Having studied world-class business leaders for over a decade as a management professor, Finkelstein found that many of them have one thing in common that sets them apart from typical leaders: They make a point of personally imparting memorable, personalized instructions, via intensive one-on-one tutoring of their direct reports, either in person or virtually, in the course of daily work.
What I found so fascinating is how it almost perfectly describes the leadership sunnah of Our Prophet, Muhammad ﷺ! Quoting some excerpts of the article:
✅ Exceptional leaders I studied were teachers through and through. They routinely spent time in the trenches with employees, passing on technical skills, general tactics, business principles, and life lessons. Their teaching was informal and organic, flowing out of the tasks at hand. And it had an unmistakable impact: Their teams and organizations were some of the highest-performing in their sectors.
✅ Cognitive psychologists, teachers, and educational consultants have long recognized the value of such personalized instruction: It fosters not just competence or compliance but mastery of skills and independence of thought and action.
✅ Most of the useful lessons fall into one of three major categories - 1) Professionalism and Ethics, 2) Technical Knowledge, and 3) Life Lessons and deeper wisdoms beyond work
✅ Great leaders don’t wait for the “perfect” opening. (They) often create teaching moments outside the office environment.
✅ Best-in-class educators embrace personalization, tailoring lessons and support to match students’ individual learning profiles. And great business leaders do the same thing. They know that each subordinate should be taught in a way that suits his or her particular needs, personality, and developmental trajectory.
✅ When you embrace the role of teacher, you build loyalty, turbocharge your team’s development, and drive superior business performance.
Now, read back the bullet points above and reflect that in light of the daily habits of the Prophet ﷺ throughout his lifetime. Allahu Akbar, it fits like a glove! He ﷺ would spend time with his companions, both in and out of the masjid in informal settings, whether it is inquiring them about their dreams, having regular informal conversations and actively listening to get to know them, even with younger companions while they share a riding animal with him.
And that’s what made him such an effective leader ﷺ. Because he knew them on a very personal level, he was able to recognize his companion’s strengths and improvement areas and therefore provide very personalized advice. When one companion asked for advice, he ﷺ would say “don’t get angry”. When another companion asked the same thing, he ﷺ said “believe in Allah, and then remain steadfast”. For another companion, he ﷺ said “Always keep your tongue moist with the remembrance of Allah”.
And if we look to the narrations, we can see that in each interaction, he would make it a point to impart beneficial advice - whether it was advice about akhlaq (i.e. professionalism/ethics), fiqh (technical knowledge), or life lessons including marriage, and personal development.
As leaders within our own circles of influence, we all have to put in an active effort to share and teach. In addition to that, it’s also about cultivating strong inter-personal relationships so we can effectively prioritize how we can help others: that’s the key to Exceptional leadership.
By doing so, we create a better team, organization, and at the same time force self-improvement as we push ourselves to be better - because after all, “to teach is to learn twice”. Frame the perspective that “work is ibadah”: what we teach to others, what we effectively help others to be better at their ibadah, all of this can be a legacy of good deeds that can carry on well after our departure, resignation, or retirement.
Prophet Isa (Jesus) alayhissalam said,
وَجَعَلَنِي مُبَارَكًا أَيْنَ مَا كُنْتُ
“And He (Allah) has made me blessed (mubarak) where I may go” (Surah Maryam 19:31)
Why was Prophet Isa “blesssed”? What does this mean?
In the books of tafsir, the early scholars stated that this means, "And He made me a teacher of goodness”, “A person of great benefit”, and “commanding good and forbidding evil wherever he was”
This is how we become people of barakah at our workplace: by teaching and adding value to others.
Apparently, as this article highlights, these seemingly simple habits are the key to exceptional transformative leadership.
Quoting the conclusion of the article:
“Teaching is not merely an “extra” for good managers; it’s an integral responsibility. If you’re not teaching, you’re not really leading.”
After all, our knowledge isn’t our right to hoard or keep to ourselves: It’s an amanah that will be questioned by Allah.
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