Good Leadership Does Not Resist, or Hesitate in, Doing Better upon Knowing Better

In a world that calls us to lead well, keeping our head in the sand as *leaders is not an option. With each new day, we are exposed to new data that helps inform us as to our world around us and the part that we choose to play in it. This data acquisition has happened daily since the day we were born. As we gather in and process new information about our relationships, situations and surroundings, within milliseconds we do one of a few things with it;

• Absorb and process it as something useful or detrimental
• Accept it as pleasing or affirming
• Discard or reject it as being offensive or antithetical to our way of thinking
• File it away to be accessed later for further exploration
• Deny that we have been exposed to it

When exposed to data or experiences that are pleasing or affirming to us, we attach to those thoughts, ideas, or experiences and we then seek out the like repetitively. We look for "like-minded" individuals. We seek out "self-affirming" news media, podcasts, studies, or reports to support our premise or theories. That is the easy part. It is the good leader who does the hard work intentionally seeks out the root of why something is pleasing or affirming. It is the good leader who stubbornly (because you must be stubborn in order to push through something that you do not like to do) seeks out the motives within themselves that underpin why they find those things pleasing or affirming. It is the good leader who remains open and seeks out data and information for those things that are opposite to what is pleasing and affirming so as to better understand what is viewed as the opposition.

When exposed to data or experiences that are discarded or rejected as being offensive or displeasing, there can be the tendency to avoid future sources of input that might expose us to the same. We can immediately put up defensive postures when viewing information as being counter to our present belief system or that challenge our way of living or makes us uncomfortable to the point of physical discomfort. We can reject the input that exposes that our actions do not support our purported value systems. It is the good leader who leans into what they initially want to reject to examine why they feel so offended or repulsed or uncomfortable. It is the good leader who recognizes that the things we often dislike the most in others are the very things that we are guilty of in some way ourselves. It is the good leader who grapples with the fact that if the first response to input is that of defensiveness then there is most likely something to root out in our own thinking or behaviors, for we do not react to things that have no basis for reaction.

When exposed to data that is easily pushed aside/filed away for further review, we can justify our own willful ignorance or complicit-ness through the claims that we don't have enough information to make an "informed decision". We can reject the fact that history always has more than one perspective and one author. We can procrastinate wrestling with the facts that support the opposition. We can claim plausible deniability as long as we limit the extent that we are willing to educate ourselves. It is the good leader who doesn't not procrastinate when it comes to seeking out all of the information needed to make good decisions, inclusive of information that is in opposition of how they view an issue. It is the good leader who acknowledges that history not only has more than one voice, but that history is most often written by the winners/conquerors to the detriment and silencing of any other voice and give a platform for all voices to be heard. It is the good leader who can look at facts that do not support their own narrative in order for it to inform their voice going forward. It is the good leader who rejects living in ignorance, self-imposed or otherwise, and takes accountability for the part they have played in any systems, situations or relationships that have harmed or disadvantaged others.

Good leadership seeks out knowledge, not sensationalism. Good leadership does not read soundbites but educates themselves with varied, sound sources. Good leadership takes counsel from those who do not look and think like them. Good leadership takes stock in what is going on around them; seeks to intuit what is not being said, filters through to the motives of what is being said, seeks out facts about the situation at hand - even if those facts make them uncomfortable, defensive or ashamed, and then they pick a course of education that can lead to action that leads to the betterment of the situation. Good leadership seeks to serve others before themselves and in order to do that, they must seek to be in tune with what others need from them. Good leadership does not hesitate to do better once it knows better - and it always seeks to know better - that is how we can create a perpetual cycle of being better humans for our fellow humans.

*As a reminder, everyone - every single person is a leader, because every single person influences someone else in their life. Not everyone is a good leader - be mindful of who you follow.