Leadership Viewpoint

As a young manager, I knew pretty much everything. It was beautiful then, having such certainty over so many issues – and being so open and willing to share my knowledge so freely with anybody that would listen! It’s incredible to reflect back on how much certainty I have lost over the years; how much more gray the world is than the black and white clarity I used to see.

Academia, textbooks, articles, even snippets from a daily blog seem to present the world as if it were concrete and predictable. Reality is quite different from that. There are real, live people that each of us care about who may be hurt by our clear, sharp opinions. We watch pundits on TV, who are paid well to violently disagree, attack each other verbally, and too many young managers use them as role models. They then enter the workforce and express themselves accordingly. The ensuing carnage isn’t pretty.

Real leadership must include picking our issues, and then expressing our viewpoints with sensitivity and respect. It’s far more art than science, and observing a great leader is much like viewing a piece of art. It leaves you in awe and full of respect and appreciation. If you have such a leader in your life, you may choose to model your behavior accordingly. If you are not yet garnering that reaction from your colleagues, you will no doubt want to reconsider your approach over time. When an issue is truly important to me, I often stand back and evaluate the stakeholders, those who will be impacted by my opinion and stance. I try to imagine the way it looks and feels to them before I publicly express myself, and then, if and when I open my mouth, I do it with their perspective well considered.

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