The Test of Your Leadership
Most of what we call teaching or development is pumping people full of knowledge. Knowledge has its place. But a lot of sources exist that provide increased knowledge. The leader trains people in how to think with that knowledge.
How? For our purpose here, I give you one that cements your influence for years to come and keeps your departure in your control: Model it. Think with people, so that they can see how you take information and process it through the lenses of customer experience, business priority and technology ability. This is where mental makeover kicks in: education is not transformation. Learning to think differently is the channel of transformation. Don’t just impart information. Don’t just prove that you know stuff. Give information, ask questions, engage dialogue, and all the time, show people how you take knowledge and shape into wisdom.
The test of your leadership is in the decisions people make apart from you but because of you.
You are the critical difference in the decisions made by executives, stakeholders, peers, teams and customers. Teach them to think as you think, and they will decide as you would have led.
What are ways in which you model how to think? I will appreciate reading your answers in the comments.
