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Gary Burnison.

Gary Burnison

• Gary Burnison is the CEO of the management consulting firm Korn Ferry.
• He believes that companies are most successful when they enable employees to bring emotions into their work.
• His tips as a leader include starting with yourself and then showing up when you don’t have answers.
• This article is part of a series titled “Leaders by Day” that examines how prominent business leaders address various challenges in today’s economy.

It’s a long-standing idea in business that emotions should be kept away from the workplace. Whatever is going on in your personal life, you leave it at home so you can get your most productive self to work.

But in a year where so many lines have been blurred – when the home has become work and people are so exhausted it is impossible to leave their personal experiences at the door – it is clear that this old-fashioned idea no longer lasted may have .

And according to Gary Burnison, CEO of consulting firm Korn Ferry and author of “Leadership U: Accelerating Through the Crisis Curve,” it’s up to executives to find a new way forward.

“I think what the world is asking for now is radically human leadership – leadership that is based on humility, not just showing empathy, but showing empathy, being vulnerable, being authentic,” he told Insider.

While it’s pretty obvious how such leadership would create a more pleasant workplace for employees, Burnison shared that it will also translate into higher productivity and success.

“People want to know that they are part of something bigger than themselves,” he said. “They want to grow, they want to learn, they want to be loved, and they want to know what they’re doing to someone else. And our research clearly shows that companies that do these things outperform.”

Burnison saw this game successful when Korn Ferry weathered the pandemic. Although they had to make many tough decisions as a company, like the layoffs so many faced, they did so in the most humane way they could and made sure they were there for their employees along the way – and now see business levels that have fully returned to normal.

If you’re used to keeping emotions at bay in the workplace, learning to become a radically human leader can feel alien. Here are a few ways Burnison has suggested getting started.

Start with yourself

To be a radically human leader has to start with you.

“I don’t think you can be a radically human leader if you are not radically human yourself,” said Burnison. “It starts with looking in the mirror and saying openly, ‘Where are my blind spots? Where are my strengths? What are my weaknesses?'”

In particular, Burnison recommended taking a close look at how you and your company deal with mistakes. When failures are punished rather than encouraged, your reps may never feel comfortable opening up to the things that make it difficult for them to get their jobs done, which means you never have the opportunity to assist them in doing so.

It also means modeling the behaviors you want to see in others and not being afraid to show up with vulnerabilities to demonstrate to your team that they are free to do the same. This does not mean that you have to throw all of your problems on your team, but it does not mean that you always have to put on a happy face every time you go through something difficult.

Create space for connection

Of course, your employees won’t suddenly open up to you about their problems, especially if you’ve never had a culture of radically human leadership.

Instead, start by engaging with your co-workers in smaller ways – asking about their weekends, their families, their hobbies. In time, they will feel comfortable sharing some of the more difficult things in their life.

In today’s virtual workplace, this also means creating space for connections in a very targeted manner.

“If anything, I’ve increased the amount of time I spent just talking to my staff,” said Burnison. “When I make a Zoom call, I never start with this topic. I’ll try to connect with the people who are on the phone first, as that would have happened if we had been in person.”

Show yourself even if you don’t have answers

As a leader, there will be many situations where there is no solution and no way to fix what is going on.

The trick is to be humble enough to realize this and still make an effort to reach out to your reps and make sure they know you are there for them.

Burnison saw it firsthand this year when it had employees who had to be quarantined for two weeks for fear of COVID-19 exposure, suddenly lost spouses and suicidal thoughts.

“There is no magic formula for what to say in situations like this – there is no game plan or tactical approach to take,” he said. “But when people feel like they are being seen, that they are being heard, that someone else is taking care of them – that’s 90% of it.”