“The most effective leaders aren’t the ones who seem to have all the answers. The most-effective leaders are those who question themselves.”
- Naomi Rothman, Professor and Associate Dean, Lehigh University
In her insightful WSJ article (The Best Leaders Aren’t Decisive. They’re Ambivalent), Ms. Rothman blows up some long-held ideas about how leaders are viewed and, more importantly, how they are selected.
Years ago, a mentor of mine took down an expensive painting of a golden eagle that had always hung above my desk. He replaced it with a standard sheet of printer paper, upon which he’d written in Sharpie, “I don’t know. What do YOU think?”
My career was taking off then, and I’d hired some very talented people. His point was that I was holding them back by having all the answers, and that in the vast majority of cases, they had a good solution in mind when they came to me with a question. “Stop keeping them from understanding how good they are by having all the answers,” he said. “Try having only the ones they need you to have instead.”
In that moment, a difference was made. And not just for me. For Tom, Barry, Pearlie, Todd, Kevin, Tony, Kent, Kyle, Jack, Tate, Ali, and more than a dozen other leaders in my teams from that point forward.
How does one become an ambivalent leader? Rothman suggests acknowledging and pursuing internal conflict and building a new culture by defying traditional views of what leaders look like.
An odd post for THE week?
I don’t know. What do YOU think?
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