Insight #344:
(How exciting! Here in the USA we have more than a month left of public leaders flip-flopping on key issues, depending on their audience of the day. Oh, this happens in other countries as well? All the time, not just during elections? How pathetic.)
Why do leaders flip-flop? I can think of two main reasons (or excuses), apart from pandering to an audience. Only one is acceptable:
- When they make decisions based on information which later turns out to be incorrect or no longer applicable.
- When they won’t delay decisions that really don’t need to be made now.
(Which one is unacceptable? You don’t know? Well done, you are ready to be a leader, if only a political leader.)
Every leader must learn the skill of deciding based on incomplete information. And then know what to do if the decision turns out to be wrong. I just wish that leaders will learn the really, really critical skill of knowing when to decide and when to delay deciding.
Why don’t leaders learn this skill? Because, when it comes to leadership, there’s a visible difference between macho and wisdom. No macho leader will ever be wise enough to utter these words in public:
“I don’t know… yet.”
Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.
. . .