I was just having a casual conversation with a few other people on how in business and most other team based objectives, there are so many times where a group can consist of the most dominant and knowledgeable people that one can get and yet a group with less experience can end up outdoing them. While there can be a dozen reasons for this, the topic in particular that was being discussed was how the person who is designated as the one to lead and manage the talent pool can often be the cause of it due to negligence on what one’s goal should really be.
Many times even from my experience, people who are new where they acquire a position of power seem to adapt this mentality that if you are leading a group of people in something then that means you have to rule with an iron fist and that you must look bigger than everyone else as it makes you look inferior if the person below you is better than you in a certain area. I can recollect some real examples way back before where I wasn’t the main leader for a task with a company and the goal was to increase sales by selling a particular item. At that time we have just acquired a new project manager so to speak. Everyone knew that I was the strongest and most knowledgeable person to help implement a marketing strategy. Now you’d think the smart thing to do as a leader would be to capitalize on this as you have someone who knows what they are doing. Instead, I couldn’t believe it when the person told me “That sounds great, but it will make it look like you are better than meâ€.
It actually lasted a long time and with others as well as instead of properly managing everyone, at times the person in charge would even sneakily try to listen in to conversations on what others say in hopes to secretly acquire knowledge on some best practices so that they won’t look bad in the eyes of the people who are overlooking them. In my opinion, a good leader doesn’t mean that you necessarily know the most or are the best in everything, but rather you have the ability to properly manage and motivate people in accomplishing a common goal. That’s almost like a company that would only hire people who know technically less than they do. Would that sound like a good plan for future growth?
In the end, a team has a common goal and as a leader one’s goal should be to simply find a way to fully utilize your skills and resources to accomplish that goal. If you are placed in a position of power, then learning how to empower others with your position of power to do something is in my opinion what separates a successful leader from an unsuccessful one.