A few weeks ago, I wrote a post around developing who you are as a leader. The spirit of the post is about developing your own philosophy. You can read it here if you haven’t:
Today I’d like to take a few minutes on how the multitude of voices out there can shape your philosophy. Likely, you’ll take queues from those around you: bosses, CEOs, etc. that you come in some type of contact with. The “up close” interactions with leaders should and will shape you, both in good and not so good ways. That’s to be expected. You should make that part of your career planning – find people and situations that you think will aid you in becoming the leader you want to be.
Outside of the workplace, the more interesting question is “what voices do I search out to learn from?” Walk into any bookstore (if you can find one!) or search Amazon and you’ll see that the options are nearly endless. Much of the information is laughably contrary from one “expert” to the next. All espouse their deep expertise and amazing results.
There is a little secret that none of them tell you: they are both all right and all wrong. There isn’t a one size fits all model, expert, philosophy, etc. No person’s ideas are timeless and applicable to any situation. No experience is more valid than another’s experience. There isn’t a singular right answer.
So what do you do then? I advise that you read and listen to a broad group of voices.
You’ll find that some of these voices are typically aligned with what you believe and who you aspire to be. You’ll find some that are completely new lines of thinking that you’ve never pondered before. You’ll discover some that run completely counter to your current thinking. Every one of those is valuable in different ways.
Remember, building a philosophy isn’t like learning a language. There aren’t hard and non-negotiable rules around how it is done and what it must be. It’s much more like writing a novel. There are existing frameworks, genres, and even familiar story structures for novels – not to mention a nearly infinite world of examples. You can learn from those but not be limited to them. You have the autonomy to take parts of philosophies and build your own. It may be wholly unique. It may be very familiar. But it will be yours.
Ill share a few snippets of my experience in evaluating voices as it relates to how I attempt to lead.
I have a few authors that I find myself regularly aligned with on topics both familiar and new. For example, Simon Sinek’s books nearly always resonate with me. Some are much more core to my thinking (“Start with Why”) than others (“The Infinite Game”), but rarely to do I read something that I wholly object to in his books. Some is alignment with my current beliefs and just as much are completely new thoughts for me that when read I think “oh duh!” because they seems so obvious.
There are authors that are hit or miss in my alignment with their books. In this case, I’d point to Liz Wiseman. I found her book “Multipliers” to be one of the most relevant and foundational books for me trying to form my day to day leadership style. Another of her books “Rookie Smarts” resonated to a degree, but wasn’t so transformational that I recall much of it. Her most recent book (“Impact Players”) completely missed the mark with me, as I have issue with some of the underlying assumptions.
Finally, there are books that I read that reinforce things I don’t want to be as a leader. I’ve recently finished a book by former football coach Bill Walsh (“The Score Takes Care of Itself”) which has some useful elements, but overall I found myself thinking “this is the opposite of the leader I want to be” which is really insightful in a few cases.
Does that mean you should read Simon, maybe read Liz, and avoid Bill? Heck no! You need to read enough to find your guiding voices. Said another way, it means you should approach reading about leadership like many of us approach ordering at Baskin Robbins:
Find your favorite flavors and have them regularly, but make sure to try out most everything so you don’t miss something that you may really like. If you can get a sample to help determine if you’ll enjoy the flavor, even better! By trying out as many flavors as you can, you’ll start to develop a palate that may or may not be unique, but sure will taste good to you. Once you start to understand the flavors you like, you begin to consider other foods with those flavors you may like – you being to expand your thinking.
In leadership terms, you’ll begin to understand how you like to be lead and how you’d like to lead and then can find situations that fit both those likes. Of course that will help shape what kind of leader you become, but also will help you find circumstances that fit your desires and expectations.
View from the Middle 