Welcome to Defining Moments of Leadership, a podcast hosted by Marsha Acker. We’re joined today by guest Glenn Sigl and we are exploring a key aspect of his leadership model around embracing difference. Difference is what raises the stakes for us. When we encounter differences, we are in the territory of stakes-raising themes and triggers, and if they remain invisible to us and to others, it is the source of what can lead us to our most unhelpful and hurtful behavior in a moment of crisis or pressure. We explored an aspect of his model that includes not just tolerance for difference, but how he embraces difference with compassion and curiosity. You’ll hear the theme of working with difference as a practice come throughout his leadership. For him, working with difference means welcoming it with compassion, being curious if difference is missing, and seeking it out, reframing his relationship to oppose, embracing it, and being grateful for when it’s voiced. And this key aspect of taking action to repair a relationship when you encounter difference that didn’t go well because it’s our natural tendency to judge and we’re human.
Glenn is Senior Director, Human Resources for a Fortune 500 Real Estate Investment Trust in the Multi-family Housing space, and has over 25 years of HR/OD consulting experience. He actively uses structural dynamics in his own leadership and in developing leaders within his organization.
He obtained his Masters and Doctorate degrees in Leadership and Organizational Psychology from William James College in Boston. While at William James, he discovered Structural Dynamics and began actively model building as a part of graduate studies. He wrote his dissertation on the potential relationship between the Level III structural dynamics operating systems and Complexity Leadership Theory.
Glenn was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and has lived in many places: Atlanta, Miami, DC and now Boston. He’s been married to John Self (his favorite human) for 30 years. He loves classical music, opera, theater, skiing, jogging, working out, traveling, reading and life-long learning.
