Insight #10:
Let me share with you the three most important words I learned as a coach and an advisor. Listen carefully:
“I don’t know.”
Yes, yes, I know that coaches and advisors are not normally paid for not knowing. Nor are leaders. But coaches and advisors can be at their most effective when they admit to not knowing. The same with leaders.
When a leader makes a statement, outlines a plan or offers a solution, followers stop thinking. However, when someone who is expected to know admits to not knowing, it creates a space for others to step forward with new ideas and different perspectives.
It is a wise leader who, even when knowing, occasionally says, “I don’t know.”
So be brave and try it. It is quite liberating. And you might even learn something from your followers.
I often say “I don’t know” to my clients. I continue to learn from them and get paid for it. What effective nonsense!
Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.
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