“I have been driven by curiosity rather than certainty, by the wish to understand rather than the desire to pass judgment.” – Ramachandra Guha
Being a leader is difficult, and it’s especially difficult when things happen that don’t fit your expectations of how people, or the world, should work. Sometimes, the very core things we think are true about the organizations we lead or the world in which we lead them are actually incorrect. And it can be more than a little shocking to realize that.
The way some leaders deal with that shock is to pretend it doesn’t exist. When confronted with facts or experiences that don’t fit their expectations, or that make them uncomfortable, they just pretend it didn’t happen. Too often, those leaders’ motto seems to be “If we just don’t talk about it, then it doesn’t exist.”
It goes without saying, but that’s ridiculous. The only thing worse than not knowing is knowing and pretending not to. Leaders need to operate in the actual world, not in the world that we wish existed, or in the world where everything goes according to plan. We can’t make decisions based on a lack of contact with reality.
Part of our job then is to try and understand what that reality is. In their quest to ignore the real world, too many leaders only seek knowledge or information that supports what they want to believe. They find information, take it out of context, and voila! You have an excuse to make a bad decision.
Ask real questions. Seek real understanding. You cannot lead people if you don’t understand the world they’re living in. You cannot lead an organization if you don’t understand the environment in which it exists.
Take some time to think about the key assumptions you hold regarding your organization. Are they really accurate? When you think about your clients or customers, are you thinking about what they actually are? Or what you wish they’d be? When you think about your people, are you thinking about what they actually do? Or what you wish they’d do?
Living in a dream world is no way to lead. You must seek to truly understand, and then lead accordingly. Put away your fantasy glasses and see what’s real.
