Doubt. Choice. Action.
There are key behaviors that are necessary for great leadership. Whether they are sufficient we leave for later debate. The necessary behaviors fall into three groups. The first is self imposed deliberate doubt; suspending judgment long enough to observe and collect evidence without forming a theory to explain where it came from, what it means, or what it leads us to do. This behavior clearly is not enough for great leadership, because every scientist, every detective, every inventor has honed their empirical skepticism but not every one of them is a great leader.
The second key behavior is making a brazen choice; taking a firm position even in the face of great doubt. We have doubts about the facts, doubts about our abilities, doubts about our teams, and even more doubts than can be listed here. If we doubt deeply enough then we doubt even our doubts, which in turn frees us to take action. This is the boldness that breaks the stalemate of analysis paralysis that often comes from doubt. We take a position because we have listened carefully, we have learned all we can in the time we have, we know the facts we know, we know the limits of those facts, and we choose to act because we can and because we know that not acting is like dying. And in some situations, not acting will in fact lead to death.
Finally, the third behavior is decisive action. After sifting fact from fiction, after taking a position despite the lack of sufficient evidence to fully know a course of action, we act with confidence as though we knew for sure. We declare a course and we exhort others to join. They join because they helped create the vision of where we are going. If we are clever, we have chosen a future bold enough, challenging enough, and far enough in the future to drive our intention, our invention, and aspiration for years. And often in secret we continue to doubt.
Without these three behaviors, leadership fails to inspire, fails to sustain, and fails to achieve.
(C) 2008 Michael Schutzler, all rights reserved.
