Leaning into Experimentation as a Leader with Melanie Parish

What is an Experimental Leader?

Melanie wrote her book Experimental Leader after grappling with the idea of leadership for quite some time. “After working with clients, I wanted them to have a step-by-step guide for experimentation in their leadership.” Melanie’s viewpoint is to develop an experimental mindset because every idea we implement is a learning process. With this process, a leader doesn’t have to live and die by their ideas.

Experimental Leadership as an Open Work Culture 

“This becomes a culture of continual improvement, supports innovation, and it allows people to create a framework as leaders that are safe to fail but continually improve at the same time.” As people, we fail, but companies often punish those who fail. Instead, Melanie suggests that we try small experiments or prototypes to collect data instead of investing large amounts of time and money when we try a new idea.

Leadership in the Making

It seems that some people are born leaders, but Melanie has a different approach. She believes that you can also learn to be a good leader in addition to being a natural leader. In particular, new leaders have a hard time finding role models that apply to their career or work situation.

Listen in as we talk about why we don’t like “holding someone accountable”, learn the differences between strategic and operational processes and what companies are lacking that don’t have an experimental leadership style. 

You can also access the podcast episode at: https://bobpoole.com/melanie-parish-the-experimental-leader/?fbclid=IwAR0KZnQY0lqAlYSSlZZdmZ_fIQnJvNpteShwqdyf0zC9NeZywJMpezavdPw