Humility
Leadership coaching: Humility. The best leaders are those who admit that they don’t know what they are doing. Bold statement? Maybe, but as my husband says: “assumption is that mother of all fuck-ups”. Isn’t that just so true! Having spent the first three decades of my life pretending that I knew what I am doing, I now live by exactly the opposite ethos.
I will always ask. If I don’t understand I will ask. If I do understand I will still ask. It strikes me that most people truly believe that they understand when they haven’t consulted with anyone else involved. That’s dangerous and potentially damaging to any business entity or project. Building upon an assumption that isn’t “a truth” inevitably leads us down all sorts of rabbit holes.
I see it in my marriage: I write “cauliflower” on the shopping list, having meant a ‘whole raw cauliflower’. When the delivery contains some kind of processed cauliflower dish I think ‘How did my husband misunderstand that … ?”. Translate that to business and you have a recipe for potential disaster.
‘Cadbury’s treasure hunt failure
After inviting families to “get your hands dirty” and “grab a metal detector” to look for gold, Cadbury dug itself a hole and had to withdraw its treasure hunt ad. The campaign encouraged children to break the law and dig up the countryside without permission, archaeologists criticised, calling the advert “intensely stupid“’
Here some BIG assumptions were made… This looks like be Family fun on The scale of a hunt in their back garden. It didn’t translate across the whole UK countryside this Easter. Large amounts of cash were wasted on an advertisement campaign that suggested an illegal activity. Time and money were wasted as ad had to be withdrawn and redrawn!
Leadership Coaching: Humility
As a coach, as a leader, as a mother and a friend, I have become increasingly good at putting my hand up and saying ‘I don’t know’. “I don’t know what that means”. “I don’t know if that translates from one sector to another”. “I don’t know what the implications of that decision are”. “I don’t know if understand what that means…”. If I can misunderstand those that I love so beautifully, then in my professional capacity I have to be really humble.
Luckily, I really don’t mind being told that I am wrong these days. Whilst that would have humiliated me when I was younger, now, I would much rather know we are on that right path. This isn’t about my ego. Leadership is about humility and being more willing to look daft than to compromise the outcome.
Keep asking: I dare you!