Love Works: Seven Timeless Principles for Effective Leaders by Manby Joel

Author:Manby, Joel [Manby, Joel]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780310335696
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2012-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

6.3

Autocratic vs. Socratic

I recently told one of our senior executives that I wanted to stay out of a particular meeting because I needed to start making as few decisions as possible.

He looked at me like I had a third eye.

Yet I believe that the fewer decisions we feel we need to make, the stronger a leader we are and the stronger the team we have built. Before I arrived at Saab USA as president and CEO, I had spent fifteen years in the automotive industry — in sales, marketing, production, and the dealership side of the business. That specific experience meant I could lead — or at least I felt I could lead — as an “expert,” taking control of the meetings and laying out my plan. I didn’t really trust all those who were at Saab when I arrived, because I suspected they were part of the problem, so I wasn’t very willing to listen to their opinions. When I led in this “expert” mode, I felt the best way to use my talent was to tell people what to do. I didn’t deploy other strong leadership skills, such as identifying problems, listening to others, and building consensus through critical thinking.

Juxtapose that experience with my first few years at HFE. I had no experience in the themed attractions business, so I took an entirely different approach than I had at Saab. I learned to ask better questions, and I was forced to surround myself with people who knew their areas of expertise better than I did. It was an uncomfortable transition for me, and I was clearly out of my comfort zone at first — but it forced me to draw out the best thinking from those around me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.