Leadership is Listening

Often, when one thinks of leadership, there is the image of a man or woman, confident, in charge, barking out orders and getting things done. Certainly, a part of leadership is to be able to give out orders, drive strategy and make sure your organization is executing on its strategic goals. But a huge part of becoming an effective leader is to master the art of "listening."

The Bible refers to people who are wise having the ability to be slow to speak and quick to listen. Stoicism also emphasizes the art of listening and not having to have an opinion about everything. So why is listening so critical to become a great leader?

It's simple. When you are listening, you are not talking! You are gathering information, absorbing other's opinions about critical business problems. You are letting others express their opinions, allowing people, especially your direct reports, the right to be heard. Seems simple - right? But surprisingly, it is not.

I have seen many people in leadership positions fail the "listening" test. They believe they have all the answers, or are wedded to a particular strategy and are unwilling to listen to other opinions. That kind of behavior is short sided and not constructive. Let me explain why that is.

Take the current state of our politics. I am finding some fertile ground lately in politics with regard to leadership lessons on what NOT to do! It is obvious that the results of the presidential election saw the democrats experiencing a resounding defeat in most states. Some would say it was a repudiation of things in this country going too far left and people rebelled against that.

I won't comment on that as this is not a political action piece. But if you see the talking heads on TV, you would think the democrats won the election. A few are reflective and questioning their own party's direction. But most are not. They are not listening. They are talking. They are incapable of even contemplating that maybe their party took a wrong direction, despite their defeat in the election. That is showing poor leadership.

The late General Colin Powell had one of my favorite sayings - "Don't let your ego get so close to your position, that when your position falls, your ego goes with it." I love this. Powell was a great leader. He understood the value, the power, of listening. Many times people in leadership positions have their egos so close to their positions that they are unwilling to listen to divergent opinions that go against their strongly held beliefs. Not listening means they are not getting the full story. They are not getting all the information for them to make the right business decisions.

I learned, early in my leadership journey, the wisdom of listening.

I do not have all the answers. In leadership, if you are doing it right, you bring onboard leaders, subject matter experts, who know more than you do about their lines of business. When I was at Microsoft, I took a long time, when I took over as CSO, to find the best security talent there was. I had great people driving my lines of business be it EP, Investigations, Technology, Crisis Management, International Ops, Vendor Compliance, Intelligence etc.

These men and women drove the day-to-day operations of Microsoft Global Security. When we were dealing with critical business issues, I relied upon my experts to help me make the best decision I could for the betterment of our organization. Sometimes I felt that despite what I was hearing, that my position was the way to go. And that is fine. As long as I truly listened to what my team had to say, first.

Powell's statement was always in the back of my mind when I was CSO, and even when I ran operations at CIA. I had to keep my ego in check. (And those who know me know I have a fairly healthy ego - smile) I had to listen. I had to keep my mouth shut. And guess what sports fans, it isn't that hard and it is a great morale builder.

Nothing kills morale more than when an employee feels they are not being heard. That their opinions are being given lip service by their managers. You need to make sure this never happens on your watch. I don't care how right you think you are. I don't care how busy you are. A sign of a confident, mature and introspective leader is the ability to keep your mouth shut and listen.

So the next time you have the urge to discount an opinion from one of your people - don't!

Be a great leader and listen. Your people know more than you think they do. After all, that is why they are working for you. Don't be like politicians, both on the left and right, who don't ever listen.

That's it for now. Let me know what you think!