Transformational Leadership With Rania Hoteit

In this episode, I, your host, Dr. Tomi Mitchell, had the pleasure of interviewing the lovely Rania Hoteit

Biography:

Rania Hoteit is a multi-award-winning serial entrepreneur, global impact leader, author, advisor, and speaker with recognitions from the White House, United Nations, UK Parliament, The Global CEO Excellence Award, and other prestigious honors. With her deep expertise and exceptional success record, Rania is a sought-after leadership consultant who guides innovation transformation, human development, and business growth for companies around the world. As Founder and former CEO of ID4A Technologies, Rania built a company whose cutting-edge developments have been revolutionizing manufacturing processes and creating significant environmental, economic and social impact worldwide. Under her leadership, ID4A was recognized by the White House Office of Science and Technology for 'Fostering The Development of Advanced Manufacturing in the US as The World'; ranked on Entrepreneur 360's list of the “Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America”; honored on Inc. 5000 List of “America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies”; received the Real Leaders “100 Top Impact Companies” Award and other global honors, including LUXlife's "World's Best Emerging Design Technology Company", Fast Company's World Changing Ideas Awards for the company's innovative "Pandemic Response" and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Citizens Awards for "Best Economic Opportunity and Empowerment Program."

Rania has been featured in notable publications including Forbes, Huffington Post, Inc, Entrepreneur, Le Commerce Du Levant, and Thrive Global. Through her commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals, more than 1800 manufacturing businesses adopted sustainable practices. Additionally, she has contributed to reducing labor exploitation in global production pipelines by improving the skills and working conditions of over 2 million workers by the end of 2021. Recently, she was named with Oprah Winfrey among "7 Disruptive Women Paving The Way For Success in 2022". 

Contact Information:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/RaniaHoteitOfficialPage/

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/rania_hoteit

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/raniahoteit_officialpublicpage/

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/raniahoteit/

Website:
http://www.raniahoteit.com/

Other Resources:

Rania is offering FREE 30-minute consultations. To schedule a session and/or book her to speak at your event, go to: http://www.raniahoteit.com/contact

Books: 
365 Days to Level up Purpose and Passion- foreword by Rania Hoteit

https://bit.ly/3wMLDWO

Transcript

SPEAKERS

Rania Hoitet, Dr. Tomi Mitchell

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  00:06

Hello everyone, this is your host Dr. Tomi Mitchell from the Mental Health and Wellness Show. Today I have the pleasure of introducing Ed Jam. Her name is Rania Hoitet. She is a multi-award-winning Serial Entrepreneur, Global Impact leader, public speaker, advisor, and author with recognitions from the White House, United Nations, United Kingdom house of parliament, the global CEO Excellence Award and other prestigious honors. Rania has been featured in Forbes Huffington Post's Inc Magazine, Thrive Global AP economist, real leaders black commerce land want and more. And most recently, she was named alongside Oprah Winfrey as one of the seven disruptive women paving the way for success in 2022. As the founder and CEO of ID for technology, Rania has built an innovative company whose cutting-edge developments are disrupting traditional supply chains, revolutionizing production processes, and creating significant environmental, economic and social impact worldwide. With no further ado, I would love to introduce our guests. So welcome to the show.

Rania Hoitet  01:23

Thank you so much, Dr. Tommy, it's such a pleasure to be with you on the show today. Yeah, for sure. Feelings are very, very mutual. You know, I introduced a more a little bit about you, but I'd love you to share with our listeners more about you that you think will be a benefit for them as they listen to our conversation. Sure. I mean, where do you want me to start? There's so much.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  01:39

Oh, there is like.

Rania Hoitet  01:44

For the kind introduction as well. And you introduced me very well. And I would love audiences also to know that as a person who has been in leadership for a long time, and who has created a lot of success, humbly, so throughout my many years of being in, in positions of leadership, whether that is through my entrepreneurial journey, or through other partnerships that I've had, so I want everyone to know that if they want to reach me after this conversation that we have today, they are more than welcome to and learn more about me online as well, so. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  02:21

This is fabulous. Yeah, no, I honestly, when I read your bio, when I read it at the first time, it just puts a smile on my face, because like I said, you've done many of the things that I hope to do and some of the things I've done, but you take it to a new level. And knowing that climate of the world we're in right now and just hearing about your business, and just how you're disrupting traditional supply chains, and just revolutionizing things that makes my heart sink because I don't know about you, I like, I know you do like this too. I love change, change. I embrace it. I embrace innovation. I don't believe just because you did this way all the time that it works, that you must stay doing it the same way. No, I believe in being open, be able to look outside the box, looking at situations as an opportunity and coming together with different ideas to make a change.

Rania Hoitet  03:12

True.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  03:13

Right?

Rania Hoitet  03:13

I can't agree more with you. I mean, I'm with you on the same boat. People like us are the ones that are leading change in many ways, whether that is within their organizations or within their communities or within the microenvironments that they had created, the microenvironments of influence as through the media or through the press and other means of sharing their knowledge and insights and passion. So we all have a role to fulfill on this planet. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  03:41

Yeah.

Rania Hoitet  03:42

And everybody has their own way of living their purpose and channeling that energy of, of desire for change in ways that can help others and motivate them to get on board and to see the world in different, with different eyes. I love it. You know, I will talk more but I'm not sure what your previous life was before you did all these amazing things. But with me, I feel like my career as a physician was and just a woman of color who traveled the world live in different continents. That was kind of like training for the woman I'm walking into like that really embracing my calling, and that is to make an impact make a global impact. Like there, there are problems in this world which we can all see. But I believe that there are solutions we just have to rally leaders, true transformational leaders. People who know how to act, I think is important, but you must act at the right time. But the timing is key, right?  Timing is key.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  04:36

Timing is everything because you can make the right decision but the timing is wrong. It's a disaster. And I looking at everything I couldn't just agree even more. So this idea of transformational leadership. Do you mind giving the listeners a definition of what how you define transformational leadership?

Rania Hoitet  04:52

Sure, to give a bit of an overview what transformational leadership is because not everybody understands what it is but the comsat. Love it. So you know, you mentioned the four components of transformational leadership, maybe let's go over that. So we can have a framework for our compensation. Do you mind sharing? Was initially introduced by Political Science and Leadership researcher. His name is James McGregor Burns, he, his studies came out in the 1970s. And he had defined the actions of transformational leadership's as when one or more persons engaged with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality. That was literally the, the core of his definition of what transformational leadership is. And then later on, of course, there was a lot of modifications to that initial theory. And in 1995, there was another leadership researcher, and Professor, his name is Bernard Bass. He's the one who actually expanded on Burnes ideas. And he developed those ideas further to what we know today as the past Transformational Leadership Theory, which literally consists of four main components of transformational leadership, which we're going to talk about in a moment, but it's basically defined by the impact that a leader has on his or her followers.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  05:00

Yes. 

Rania Hoitet  06:06

Yes, sure. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  06:08

Yeah. 

Rania Hoitet  06:10

The, the full range of leadership introduces four elements of transformational leadership, which are known within that model as the four I's and the four I's referred to the first one. The first I I'm going to talk about is idealized influence. idealized influence is basically about helping to identify those who provide exemplary role models, who, whom others look up to, they follow, they aspire to be like, these are leaders who are people that we know as having very high ethical behavior, they can instill pride, they gain respect and are generally trusted to make great decisions. They are also within organizations as well, they are normally exceptional at attracting top talents to their organizations, because followers trust them, and they respect them, which also results in the followers wanting to emulate this individual and internalize his or her ideals. The second I is inspirational motivation, which is another key element here another another key component. The second I, which is inspirational motivation is really about leaders will have a clearer vision that is also combined with the communication skills to be able to paint a compelling picture of the future in ways that make the vision understandable, that make it precise, that make it powerful, and engaging. So those types of leaders that that, that have the capability of being inspirational and motivational. And that sense, they challenge their followers with very high standards, they communicate with optimism about the future and future goals, but they also help their followers to experience that same passion and that same motivation that they have so they could fulfill these goals. So and that way, they also provide a strong sense of purpose and meaning for their followers in order to motivate them to act. So this is a very powerful one which makes followers not only trust and believe, but also makes them motivated to invest their efforts and their tasks and make make them also believe in their abilities as well. So they feel encouraged and optimistic about the future. So this is a very, very strong component. The third I is intellectual stimulation. Intellectual stimulation is really refers to leaders who don't only challenge the status quo, but they also stimulate creativity and innovation among their followers. And we just talked about both of our passions about being you know, agents of change and inspiring innovation. But they also these types of individuals, they also encourage their followers to explore new ways of doing things and new opportunities to learn. And they also create safe environments were taking risks and turning mistakes into opportunities for deep learning. So these are really the kinds of environments that are conducive to innovation. They're also conducive to growth. This is where people are nurtured and developed to think independently and where great things happen. So organizations tend to generate way better results when you have this kind of environments that are conducive to growth and learning and independence of thinking as well. The fourt I, which is another critical component, I mean, they're all critical, obviously. But they all tie together the fourth one, which is really a key differentiator and this style of leadership is called individual individualized consideration. This is really about the degree to which the leader attends to each followers needs by offering support and mentorship by giving empathy and keeping communication open. And by being able to celebrate the individual's contribution and what each follower makes and contributes to the team or to the society or to the organization, whatever that group represents. In these cases, this is where the followers develop the will and aspiration for self development. And they start to use their intrinsic motivation to accomplish their tasks. So it's a very deep connection that these leaders are able to create with their followers. So in that sense, a transformational leader doesn't take a one size fits all approach to connecting with anyone with people in general, they are able to develop a deep understanding of what drives and motivates each individual. And they offer a more customized leadership approach that enables each follower to have the chance to succeed within the organization. And it also helps them to feel that they belong to the group or to the team or to the company. So So those four combined traits, or those major components lead to performance that is beyond expectation. And we see that being proven over and over again, through organizations that have these types of leadership, leadership styles, and have these types of leaders that are running these organizations. Definitely these four I's are very inspirational like it, but the smile on my face just imagining an organization in a company and individuals working in this manner. You know, for your experience, what would you say the biggest challenge leadership is facing so far, because we have this gold standard, right, this transformational leadership model, but the fact that let's be honest, I don't say very often. That's true. It's true. And that's for many reasons. First of all, because there's a huge misconception around leadership. And normally, it's it's really common to equate transformational leadership with a strong and who's the asset passionate personalities as the traits that drive transformational thinking and vision and change within a group or within an organization. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  12:51

So the charismatic kind of leader people think that they have waht they.

Rania Hoitet  12:54

Right. Exactly. Yeah, so, so that's it's true, those those are key traits that are important, and these types of leaders can automatically come to mind. But the characteristics of a transformational leader go so much deeper, and they shouldn't be thought of as an innate personality traits. I believe that becoming a transformational leader is about developing behaviors and strategies and actions that are grounded and leadership theory. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  13:22

Yes.

Rania Hoitet  13:23

But they go beyond those generalized characteristic traits that we associate with leadership because we have, honestly we have seen so many people that are energetic and that are enthusiastic, and they do have a vision of some sort, and they're charismatic. But when you look at the strategies, and the behaviors, and the actions, there's a whole other set of expectations that is missing from what a good leader or what an exemplary leader, we should be looking up to. So, so those are the deeper the deeper layers because those types of people that are transformational leaders, they're not only visionary, they're not only energetic and passionate individuals who are concerned and involved in a certain process or that are great at delivering certain certain results, they are recognized by a distinctive ability to help the group accomplish its goals and, and inspire positive change both in their followers and in the organization as a whole. Whether that is again like I say organization, we could be talking about our our school, within the community within our school or within our neighborhood or any any group that we belong to or we look at. So these types of leaders, they create a culture of innovation and positive change that leads to successful outcomes, whether that is business or social, or environmental or economic, again, depends on the contacts, but the outcomes happen because of that person being equally visionary, being equally a good mentor and a source of inspiration, and also having the ability to create distinctive culture within the organizations and the teams and the groups that they lead. And as a result, the typical sign that we see within these groups that are led by this type of leader, they're not only, you know, they're not only creating great results that are measured by accounting, kind of metrics, but those are groups where we can start to see the individuals becoming extremely loyal and extremely successful at an individual level. And in those cases, as well, the turn, the turnover tends to be quite low, within organizations, because transformational leaders are able to inspire a great deal of commitment and their followers as well. And that's why we see certain leaders that up until today, they're long gone, but there's still so much loyalty to who they are, and so much commitment to their vision way beyond you know, that their time on earth because they were so deeply connected to the groups that they were leading, and they had those high standards that they were able to connect with other with other people through but they were also able to inspire others to to achieve and to embody as well.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  16:28

You know, you almost read my mind, because the next kind of question I was gonna go to is okay, transformational leaders, they're amazing. They have highs like high standards, it's a big shoes to fill, so to speak. But I don't know, from my experience, when you do have those transformational leaders, they stand out, they're almost polarizing, right? And I also find that you might have one transformational leader, but then when that person moves on or passes away, or whatever, you don't necessarily get the same pow. Like, why, why is that society have fights against transformational leadership? Do you know what I'm saying? Like, do you do you see it, like, I see great leaders of the past and present, but then they do their thing, and then bam, something else, why?

Rania Hoitet  17:11

I think mainly because transformational leadership requires a very high level of cooperation, very high level of humility, very high level of ability to be equal with others. So that really turns off the the types that lack empathy, that that are more narcissistic in nature, that are not necessarily in leadership to be there, for the greater good of all, they are there for the greater good of self. And that's really the main differentiation there. It really this is, this is why there are certain things that we can teach about leadership. But there are things that are so innate, like if on the inside, you are not that empathetic, inclusive, open minded, loving, caring person, there's no way you can reach that level of becoming a transformational leader, because you don't care about other people. It's that simple. And transformational leadership, at its core is about the empowerment of self.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  18:26

Yes.

Rania Hoitet  18:26

And empowerment of others through being an empowered self. It's not about the empowerment of self on the expense of others. It's that simple. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  18:37

I love it. You are like music to my ears, because in order for a transformational leader to thrive, they need empathetic supportive community society, isn't that correct? 

Rania Hoitet  18:50

100%. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  18:51

So to those who are listening is like they can thrive and continue this passion on their own. They need us even those who don't associate yourself as being a leader to be kinder to be more inclusive society, right? Because we will look at those things that inclusivity and being a part of society, looking at the global society, we need to care about those who are less fortunate. That's part of being inclusive, right? It shouldn't be a multiple caste system, right?

Rania Hoitet  19:18

And that's why we still have problems that we're just entering another war that's going on right now. There are four other wars that are happening in the background that not necessarily highlighted.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  19:30

Is getting attention.

Rania Hoitet  19:31

What's happening in Ukraine at the moment. But when you look at the leadership that's driving all of these actions, again, like like I mentioned earlier, there are the certain traits that we look at an associate with leader and then there are the deeper traits that are seen and the actions and behaviors on the strategy. So when we put the two together, like okay, you, you're charismatic, you're cool, you know, you seem to be confident there are things about you that appear to be great characteristics of leadership. But when I look at your actions and how you're you're performing your your behaviors and how you're executing on your strategies and the motivations behind them, and everything else that you are actually doing this is when we see the gap and what leadership is.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  20:21

Yes. 

Rania Hoitet  20:22

And what transformational leadership is. And there are so many styles of leadership. But I think we are now at a stage where we are deeply in need for transformational leaders that are capable of looking at the world beyond themselves and an understanding that they are, they are a small point in time and in space that's related to so many other points within a much larger network. So if you're kind of cutting yourself off from that entire network and trying to raise yourself above everyone else, you're literally you're not in the right, and the right mind to to make decisions that are going to be to the benefit of humanity in any way, shape, or form.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  20:25

Yes.  Definitely, you know, and in transformational leadership, now we're gonna tie in Mental Health as this is the Mental Health and Wellness Show, I don't believe there's space for anyone with a narcissistic personality or sociopathic personality, because there are leaders who are able to encourage their followers to, you know, the idealized they inspire, they intellectually stimulate their brains, they look at them individually, but their messaging is destructive. 

Rania Hoitet  21:38

100%

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  21:39

Right? And we've seen that in the past. Look at the previous world wars, right? You had a very motivational leader, you know, Hitler, right?

Rania Hoitet  21:48

Yes.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  21:48

But what did he inspire people to do? Terrible, just evil things. Right? And we looking past that the history. I think Hitler was not right in the head.

Rania Hoitet  21:59

Of course he wasn't.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  22:00

Right?

Rania Hoitet  22:02

But but see, the, the, the greater danger that we really live in now is lack of education, about mental health. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  22:12

Yes.

Rania Hoitet  22:12

And lack of understanding about what is healthy, what's, what's questionable, what's inducive, what's criminal, what's dangerous, what we don't understand the meaning behind a lot of things, and a lot of people don't have, and I blame this really on our educational system, because we are learning so many irrelevant things in the school. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  22:35

And thank you for making up a new curriculum without even dealing with the fundamental, play no, seriously.

Rania Hoitet  22:41

The fundamental of being us of being human. Right? No, what I am first before you tell me anything else about everything else outside of me, then I am how I can relate how I can be present? What does it mean for me to be here? How can I be here better? How can I be here and my most optimized version of self so I can be my, the most productive, the more innovative, the more the most positive influence on others and on this entire universe I can be, those are the things that we don't learn. And unfortunately, you know, we, you have so many characters that are being raised and and grown within environments that are highly toxic, which produce very disordered types of people. And eventually, if these conditions are not looked at, they're not monitored, you don't understand what's happening with you, you will never understand how you're affecting other people. So like you mentioned, there are so many examples of people that reached that level of leadership, being, you know, in positions of leading companies, or leading countries, or leading huge organizations, etc, or even being cult leaders, right, like there are so many different types of leaders creating influence and creating groups of followers that are kind of rallying for them and behind them. But the problem is, like you mentioned, when we look at those examples that are creating destruction, through their influence, we have to look at the character themselves. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  24:25

Yes.

Rania Hoitet  24:25

And really understand what they're capable of how did they How were they able to reach this level of influence on society? 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  24:33

Yes. 

Rania Hoitet  24:33

And this level of success in society.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  24:36

Yes

Rania Hoitet  24:36

Having such negative and toxic personality. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  24:41

Well, I think it has to do with the moral decay of society because I believe not this is my show. I can say whatever I want to you can say whatever you want, I believe in right or wrong. I believe there's good and there's not good called evil, right? I believe there's a certain way you should treat all human beings a basic standard of dignity and respect for life. Regardless of socio economic background religious orientation, it doesn't disability, disability, how do you want to put it? 

Rania Hoitet  25:06

Sure.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  25:07

Right? Because when a society watches this and then if their lens is I guess tainted by not being caring, not being empathetic being self serving, then of course, they let it pass because in their mind, it doesn't affect them. It's somebody else. So it was somewhat removed. See, when I see things that happen in this world, and I watch, it hurts me, like, as I'm getting older, I feel pain. I feel sadness, I shed tears when I see humankind being hurt when I see leaders abusing their power, right. I'm thinking that there's nothing wrong with it.

Rania Hoitet  25:39

Sure. Because again, you have enablers, right?  If if if we were much more educated on what represents healthy personality versus a toxic personality, very foundational level very basic knowledge, we would be much more equipped to identify that and others. And that within ourselves. So when you are looking up at someone, and society has told you charisma, confidence, money, that's a leader. They didn't tell you high moral standards, they care about other people, they're empathetic, they have high standards, they, they didn't tell you any of this, right? So they told, they told you half of the story. And based on that story, you have people just following this, they're following the charismatic, rich, wealthy, whatever, for persona without really looking at the behaviors and actions to determine is that actually positive influence or negative influence. And is that someone I want to follow? Or I don't want to follow because when you follow someone who has negative influence that also says so much about you.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  25:41

Yeah. Yes, nail, you nailed it. Can you go more into that cuz I think, people got scared of this, when you should follow people who are like blatant, like, have no disregard was people racist, misogynist, like, you name it. What does it say about you, Tommy,

Rania Hoitet  27:09

It says that you are an enabler. It says that you resonate with that behavior because that's also something that that you maybe do, or you you just you you are in agreement with bad behavior, because you see yourself in it, or you see parts of yourself and, or you have been conditioned to see that this is normal behavior, or it's been normal to you.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  27:34

Yeah, conditioned.

Rania Hoitet  27:35

There's that level of lack of self awareness, which is a kind of a passive form of following and agreeing and enabling someone else. And there's the more active one, which I am very aware that I actually resonate, and I share the same beliefs and the same values. And this person is a mirror of who I am. And therefore, I'm going to follow them because I see myself in them. So that's the more active follower, enabler type. So, so you're either not aware you're not aware.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  28:06

Not aware.

Rania Hoitet  28:07

Exactly you are unaware of follower, or who's been conditioned to see those kinds of behaviors and actions as as normal, it's been normalized to you, toxicity has been normalized to you, abuse of power has been normalized to you, you have been abused, you see these behaviors as normal. Or you are someone who is aware and who agrees with these practices, because you share the same beliefs and the same personality traits and the same conditioning and etc.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  28:36

So true. And you know what this those who have that lack of awareness, they're often the most dangerous, I think, because they seem nice and kind and like your average Joe, but they help perpetuate this message of destruction, this message of just not love obviously, right? Like, oh, that's that's such a nice person. They would never think of doing that. Oh, someone saw was involved. It must be okay. Right? Like, like, frankly, it's almost like a wolf in sheep's clothing. They may not realize that they're the wolf.

Rania Hoitet  29:05

Exactly. That's what I mean. Recently, I mean, you're we're in the space. So you know, from your expertise as well. There has been so much heightened awareness that I've been seeing a lot in the media about narcissism. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  29:19

Oh yes.

Rania Hoitet  29:21

When you really look at when we start looking at the overt types, the ones that are visible in society, those toxic leaders, the ones that have the negative influence, the destructive messaging, the egotistical agenda, the me above everyone else attitude, we start to understand that there's so much, there's so much we don't know about human behavior. There's so much we don't know about basic human psychology. There's so much we don't know about again, like what represents healthy behavior versus toxic behavior. And those are really getting in the way of people being equipped and empowered to make good decisions about who to choose as a leader, further group because at the end of the day you choose the leader, as a follower, you create the leaders without a follower, there is no leader, right? So whether that's an a political, or any other business, leadership position, or any any leadership position of any sort, or social followers create leaders, not the other way around. I have always want to communicate that to people, you give the power to someone else, they don't have the power over you if you don't give it away. Right? And if you give away power to the right person, you have a completely different relational dynamic than when you give the power to the wrong person.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  30:53

100% I love that followers create leaders.

Rania Hoitet  30:57

Yeah, so I think there's so much we need to do to educate people on human psychology, on mental health, on what's good, what's bad in terms of expectations, and behaviors and actions from others. And that can not only help us to develop awareness towards other people to make better choices and decisions on who to choose as someone who's going to lead the group and who we're going to give power to, but also to see ourselves become more self aware, understand our own issues, our own shortcomings, our own tendencies, conditionings that are getting in the way of us evolving in the right direction, and growing to be the best version, the best and healthiest version, we can be from a psychological, mental, emotional perspective, which leads to healthy behavior or behavioral outcomes as well, correct?

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  30:58

Yes. 100%. Do you think there's a way in which we can measure people's progress of being a transformational leader? 

Rania Hoitet  32:05

Yeah, of course. I mean, as we spoke about the four I's, the best way to measure is by testing yourself or others within the group that are aspiring leaders against the four I's to find out how do you stack up and whether you're doing what it takes. It's also there's a simple way to contrast the transformational leader with someone that we call a transactional leader. And transactional leader is typically someone who leads with a more accounting oriented style, or with a more personal goal oriented style, like we were talking about with with many other types of leaders that are outside of business and other organizational structures. But these are the people that if people do X, then you'll do Y, right. So there's that really conditional way of working and relating to other people. And this is why we call that type the transaction leader. The catch, of course, is that leading this way may get short term results. But it doesn't result in breakthrough thinking. If you want your organization or your society or, or your group or team or community to build value over the long run, you will need to cultivate transformational leaders within it. So when we look in the mirror and evaluate the leaders inside our society, or organization or inside ourselves, if we are ones, how do we stack up against the four I's of transformational leadership? Do part of of our leaders show some or even all or any of these characteristics? Or do we see many, many more who fall short of transformational and are much more transactional, like the examples where we've been talking about. So again, if you want to create an organization that attracts and retains the best talents in the world, while also inspiring them to achieve great things, you need to break free from the transactional mindset and learn to think more like a transformational leader does. Who is much more thinking about the long term? 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  34:15

Yes, the holistic about, yes, yes. Not just this business cycle this quarter or this election term, it's long term.

Rania Hoitet  34:25

And Tomi, we also see that transactional mindset and politics.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  34:29

Yes. Yes.

Rania Hoitet  34:31

Where's that short term gain? Not do I want to get the votes, right? There is.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  34:36

I'm gonna.

Rania Hoitet  34:36

I want.  Yes, I want people to do you know, excell and the result I'll do why, well they have this transactional mindset where they only are trying to push for short term results without a real commitment to long term social change or political change or being more active and their role as transformational leaders.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  34:37

Yes. Yes, I see that so often and you know, I'm sure you are a woman who to life long learner. I know I am, I believe leaders, whether on a small scale or especially political scale they should have a broad base knowledge, like they should understand history, like I was, I am a woman who I loved history, whether it's European history, American history, it doesn't. I love history, economics, supply and demand, like those basic principles, philosophy, psychology, sociology, biology, I believe we should be a well rounded human being, because it is huge. And you must also, most importantly, you understand people being an effective communicator, and the yardstick should be when you present something, what is the short term, like middle range and long term. And that should be a requirement? The transparency, because might go, right?

Rania Hoitet  35:49

True, which making anything a requirements, you need to build an infrastructure for those requirements to be embedded in right? So if I, if I'm going to give you a seat on this table, it's not about you know, get the votes, and I'll give you the seat on the table, I want to see if you are equipped to be on the seat, and the seat on this particular table, right? And then we will look at the votes because the votes are the more superficial metrics, and then who you are, who you are in the transformational aspects of leadership, right? So those are the gaps that we are always trying to really get people to see and to understand, like, really look beyond the surface of what you see beyond the surface. Because at the surface, it seems so easy. I get up there, I show up, I sell you these big dreams. And we call you know, and and as psychology and other areas that cause future faking right, when you have these individuals that are selling you the future as a manipulation tactic, and they have absolutely no ability mission, no intention on following through or delivering on these promises as just a way to just keep the follower follow along. Right? Um, so yeah, so we need a much more robust infrastructure on which we evaluate individuals, if they are fit to be in that seat on that table on that stage on that podium. And that, you know, and that house, whatever that is my house or other. Exactly, exactly. And again, you segway to my main point, speaking about transformational leader, you are a transformational leader. And I would be miss not to let you share and have you been recognized by the White House, the United Nations, the UK Parliament, what do you think they saw on you? I know you weren't expecting it, but. Definitely, I would mind, I'm very bad about, you know, talking about myself and those aspects, like when it comes to recognitions and stuff like that, I'm very humble, to be honest, and I'm always very grateful for the opportunities to be seen and to be recognized for the work that I do. And I believe they have seen the value and who I am they have seen the value and the results that I was able to produce not only from from economic metrics, but also from positive influence or positive impact, whether that is x through my initiatives on the social impact front or through my business leadership, or through my contributions to others as a mentor and as you know, as an as an active, you know, philanthropist and other areas as well. But you know, those are the things that I would personally value in someone else. So I'm hoping that those are the things that they had valued me one day, decided to recognize me for my work.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  38:53

I believe they saw those things and more. So there are listeners who are obviously inspired and like okay, I like this idea. I get it we need more transformational leader, what steps can they start taking now to kind of open up their eyes? 

Rania Hoitet  39:09

Sure. I want to talk about one one thing there's, there's a theory called the great man theory. The great man theory is based on the idea that people are born with leadership skills. And for this reason, many operates under the belief that qualities required to be a successful transformational leader are not ones that can be simply taught. And that's why we see a lot of people kind of not seeing themselves as capable of leadership, which is absolutely not true. It's true that some people are born with leadership skills. I totally agree with that. But that's not the full truth. But it's also true that you can learn ways to apply transformational leadership methods to become one. First, my first advice is to really practice self awareness. And we were talking about that as like a fundamental practice to, to really know who you are and develop that self awareness to know how to make realistic assessments about yourself and find ways towards growth. Without that there's no way you can, you can move up the ladder in terms of evolution at a personal level, right. So practice self awareness and work on yourself as a leader, especially because before you can start making changes to your team or your organization or your community, it's important how it's important to look at how you function as a person and how you function as a leader. Like I mentioned before, successful transformational leaders are empathetic, they're not only charismatic, they're also inspirational and motivational. These traits may not appear to be learnable. But there are steps you can take as a leader to develop them. For example, the first one is empathy. Because this is, again, this is foundational to transformational leadership, if you lack to see, you are a transactional leader, you are self absorbed, self focused, self goal oriented. Yeah. So that's, that's on the opposite end of leadership. For empathy, to develop empathy, it's important to take the time to to really get to know the people you surround yourself with, whether that is people that work with people, you know, at an individual level, or within any context that is broader than than their role within your organization or within your community or group, it's important to ask about them, talk to them, get to know them, know about their backgrounds, learn about their personal goals, their aspirations, learn about their concerns, to gain a better understanding of how they will react to the changes within the organization or society or for the group. And also learn how to approach feedback with them and learn what tactics and tools you can start to use to motivate them and how to best inspire them. This is where empathy becomes a huge skill that is fundamental to transformational leadership. Because if you cannot connect with others, and you cannot put yourself in their shoes, there's no way you can help them transform through your inspiration and motivation. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  42:27

Yeah, I'm, yes, so true.

Rania Hoitet  42:29

The second, the second one, charisma is another one that some people struggle with, to be honest, because again, it's one of those traits, you either have natural charm and you're charismatic, or you don't necessarily and some people struggle to find their natural charm, and they think, oh, there's no way people were actually gravitate towards me because I'm not naturally charismatic. But there are tactics that you can use to increase your charisma. One of the biggest ones, I think, is to be present in every situation that really increases your magnetism. When you are present and the moment you enter your energy starts to radiate differently. And this is when people start to understand that you are there. It's that simple, right? It's a simple idea, but it's very hard to execute on, you have to learn how to be present in the situation. That's, that's how you can increase your magnetism, right? The second one is to learn how to neutralize negative thoughts. Know how to present yourself not to be superficial, but but to to dress in a way that is you know, that can communicate that you are sensible, that you are elegant that you are you take care of yourself and learn how to, to use your body language in a way that can help you connect with other people. Inspiration with which is another component to, to really developing yourself as a leader. There are so many guides out there on how to inspire and motivate other people and there are so many tools and methods for, for anyone that can that can start to learn about online and through other experts. Honestly, I personally never had to do that. I know these tools exist but, but if inspiration doesn't come naturally to you, there are so many tools that can help you. Leaders who truly conquer this skill they naturally create a level of trust and account and accountability among their teams and followers and communities which allows them allows them to to really be successful at connecting with people but also allows those being led to feel safe and secure and choosing you as a leader to follow. And once you improve on these basic areas that are personal to you those those three major ones the empathy, the charisma and inspiration, you can start to work on enhance leadership qualities in different areas. And if you do we have time if I want to, oh, so sure, definitely. Um, so some of the critical areas that I think would be very helpful to develop to become, to start to embody the transformational leadership qualities. First is to allow followers to express creativity. This is part of what we talked about in terms of intellectual stimulation to the followers, your followers and your team members and other people that are choosing you to be their leaders, they need to feel that they could express their creativity. And that's, that's something that so many leaders lack really, because they are very good at suppressing creativity and, and independence of stock, they're not very good at cultivating creativity and freedom of thought and others. So so that's one. Number two is to be a role model. That's like we talked about earlier, one of the key components is idealized influence, right? So so transformational leaders, they are capable of walking the talk, they know how to serve as a role model for others to follow, but not through their superficial traits of leadership, right, they, they create that through their deeper characteristics of empathy, and care and passion and vision and their ability to connect and motivate others and help others to succeed along the way. The third one is passion, of course, like we talked about earlier to passion is so important, because if you don't have the passion, you cannot ignite it in someone else, right? Like you have to have a fire to pass down the fire. 

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  44:16

Exactly, like Olympic torch. 

Rania Hoitet  45:40

Exactly to pass the torch, so you have to be able to you have to be burning with with that passion in order to give away that energy to other people as well. The fourth one, I want to emphasize on the importance of effective communication skills and listening skills. Transformational leaders are extremely good at communication, extremely good. And if you don't have the abilities, you need to develop them you to develop those skills, because that's how you're going to communicate your vision. That's how you're going to articulate the goals that you're trying to achieve. That's how you're going to use your words to motivate other people, you're going to use your words to connect to the other people. So communication is absolutely critical. And listening is even more critical. Because this is where the empathetic elements come into play. Not just knowing how to talk, but also knowing how to listen because that's how you will connect emotionally with others as well. The fifth one is to develop a positive attitude. We talked about enthusiasts, and that energetic attitude, right? Earlier. But again, this is this is a key element, because if you there's there's an old saying that goes your attitude decides your altitude.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  48:14

That was in my fifth grade teacher class, like woah, hello?

Rania Hoitet  48:21

So given that, as a transformational leader, you act as a source of inspiration to followers, if you are seen discouraged, or if your team members or your followers don't see that you are as as positive about what you're trying to get them to do or to achieve, they won't have much incentive to do inspiring work or to even follow your leader or execute on your vision. So even when things are not working out, or the future seems bleak, you need to know how to express positivity and to maintain a certain level of optimism that you can communicate to others no matter what. So this is where the self awareness comes in and working on yourself comes in, there are so many things, if you don't do the work on yourself, you won't be able to transcend that energy and give it to other people. But you have to be that person in order to help others be like you because eventually what we're talking about is they're going to look at you as a role model. They want to be like you so you have to be like what you need to be in order to have that positive impact and influence that you're trying to create. Right? And the last one I want to talk about is to encourage team members to contribute. Members of your team need to feel that they are welcome to share their ideas. So it's important that you are like back to the communication skill set not only talking knowing how to also listen so you want to welcome other people ideas, you want to listen to them, you want to really encourage them to share their ideas and involve them in the work. This is also part of your efforts to to foster that safe environment to share and to speak and to create a more intellectually stimulating environment for for the people around you to participate in the discussion and under discourse, whether whether that's you're trying to sell a product, or you have a certain vision or a certain mission and society, whatever that is, you want to be able to get people involved. So they feel they have room to think for themselves and dependently within the group, and you as a leader are there to listen and to take into account who they are and what they're there to offer. And you're not there, your role is not there to suppress your role is to, to really enable and to enrich and to nurture, others than that position. So you know, to to wrap it up. There's so many on that topic. There are so many research studies that have shown that Democratic leadership style encourages higher commitment and improves productivity and inspire a higher level of creativity and problem solving capacity and others. So combining, combining those more democratic approaches to to interacting with others can definitely feed back into creating a more conducive relationship with your with your team members. So those are really the different areas that you can start to work on if you want to evolve into a transformational leadership role. But the at the essence of it all start with you start with who you are, start with self awareness, start with self development, and start to move out from there to to help others grow and to encourage them to participate.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  52:02

Love it. So really, for leaders, you need to encourage an empathetic supportive environment where there's listening because that is key because you won't thrive without it. Right?

Rania Hoitet  52:13

Absolutely.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  52:14

And, right, and then educators we need and parents and caregivers, we need to model these behaviors. You know, this could be another discussion, but there's unfortunately a rise in self absorbed narcissistic, like traits and individuals, and some blame social media. But I believe it's bigger than that. But again, a whole another discussion, which I would love to have with you. But to our listeners, have they, they're definitely intrigued How can I get a hold of you, because you mentioned that you'd be able to let them get a hold of you and speak with you.

Rania Hoitet  52:44

Sure, and the best way to get hold of me is to go to my websites, raniahoitet.com, you can reach out to me through the contact form, if you have any questions or if you want to request any help from me, whether that is to, to, to engage with you as a coach or a mentor, or as a speaker at a particular event. Or if you're looking for advisors on your board, as an organization, whatever that is, you can you can reach out to me through my website, you can also follow me on my social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn. Those are mainly the main platforms that are used, you can find me and you can feel free to, to follow and make contact us through direct messages as well. I don't always respond personally to the DMs but I have my assistant and other people on my team help with communication when it comes to social media. But I am here and I'm accessible. I'm not, you know, I again, I love to connect with other people. And if there's anything I can do to help or support or empower others, and help them on their mission. I am here, reach out to me. And it was a pleasure to talk to you today Tomi, I hope the conversation we had today will help others to understand what transformational leadership is and how they can become better leaders and transformational leaders within even their homes, communities, organizations, society and at a global level if they are operating at that level as well.

Dr. Tomi Mitchell  54:18

Thank you so much. Honestly, it was it's been a pleasure listening to you and sharing ideas. Again, it's always a blessing to meet a kindred spirit. So I want to say thank you. And to the listeners. Thank you for sharing this hour with us. This message resonates with you feel free to share it with others leave a comment. And as always, this is your host Dr. Tomi Mitchell for the Mental Health and Wellness Show.