Jerry
is the leader of a large organization and has 36 years of
experience in his field. He has seen just about everything and
he truly knows his stuff. When I asked him "what's your first
priority as the leader of a large organization?" he said: "To
surround myself with the brightest people I can find. The
biggest blind spot a manager can have is thinking you need to
be the smartest and the brightest. I have seen many managers
fail because they thought they needed to know more than
everybody else on everything. They were afraid to lose
authority. I count on bright people to show me what I don't
see. Leadership is recognizing the right opportunity when you
see it. As a leader you let your people help you by giving
them the opportunity to lead and show you the best ideas,
brightest solutions and the smartest course of action."
The
blind spot
Jerry
is loved and respected by his people for inspiring them to
continually grow as managers and bring to the table their best
ideas. "Earlier in my career," he said "I saw managers who
failed by trying to be the smartest and brightest person in
every engagement. They feared the loss of authority and they
hurt their company. They hurt their team by not encouraging
other people to show their strengths. They thought the only
way to lead was to be the top expert and so, consciously or
not, they didn't hire the smartest and brightest people,
fearing a possible threat. This is a blind spot and trap you
don't want to fall into."
"I
decided," he said, "to surround myself with the brightest and
smartest people I can find and to cheer them on in their
contributions as part of a successful team. If there is a
secret to my success this is it. The team is the smartest.
You've got to protect your people from your own insecurity of
needing to be seen as the smartest. You've got to let your
people shine and let yourself be helped by people with a
variety of intelligences and smarts."
Reflect
and act
Here
are a few questions for you to think about:
1.
Do
you hire the smartest and brightest people you can
find?
2.
Do
you feel threatened by smart people? Do you let your people
show their full
strengths?
3.
What
strategies do you use to encourage people to their strengths?
Do you coach and guide
talent?
4.
Do
you make a point to recognize and include multiple smarts and
intelligences?
5.
What
is the source of your confidence and authority?
Is it:
A.
Your
title
B.
Your
record
C.
Your
expertise and superior knowledge
D.
Your
high ethical and moral ground
E.
A
clear sense of vision
F.
Your
proven intuition
G.
Your
team and support network
H.
Your
focus on the highest self-interest of all involved
I.
Something
else
Now
it's your turn. Turn the key!
©
Aviv Shahar
