In order to be Old and Wise, you first have to be Young and Foolish
I’m in my early 80s and retired from three careers: one as a military pilot; one in academia; and one in local politics. I was fortunate to have worked for, and with, a lot of very good people. I’ve worked around a few stinkers too, but I still learned from them; after all, you can learn something from everyone.
Along the way I’ve concluded, and to borrow a phrase from others, “the long arc of experience bends toward wisdom.” While that is generally correct, it still has to be paired with the other long-standing truth that experience breeds good judgment, but some of the most meaningful experiences come from BAD judgment. Some can be more exciting than others, and, much like learning something from everyone you encounter, you can learn something from every experience.
I thought it might be useful to share some of the gems of wisdom I’ve learned in these 80+ years. Not the types of more-or-less humorous, anecdotal lessons-learned you read on Facebook (e.g., Always drink upstream from the herd, don’t mud wrestle with pigs…etc.), but more practical ones, linked directly to real world circumstances. So, here goes.
As your career advances your role changes and you need to change with it. Most careers begin on the front lines as a worker-bee, learning to apply the trade or profession. Your focus is on the task at hand. Once proficient, you may advance into supervisory positions and management.
As a supervisor/manager, you are still task-oriented but now, rather than just focusing on the immediate task, you’re charged with orchestrating the work of others and coordinating your efforts with others at your level. But the orientation is still internal to the organization, largely downward into your area of expertise, but also across the organization chart at your level.
Proficient managers who also show potential for further growth, become leaders. A leader’s focus is outward, toward the future of the organization, and deals with setting organizational policies, determining the organizational culture, orchestrating how the organization relates to its environment and to interactions with other organizations beyond its boundaries.
Each step brings a new set of challenges and requires a new mindset to succeed. Managers rely on technical competency and “people skills.” Leaders, who often arrive in their positions with great technical and interpersonal competency, must be able to get out of the engine room and into the wheelhouse in order to set the course and the sails of the organization for future success.
In sum, managers do things right; leaders do the right thing. Leaders obviously have to be able to tell the difference what might work, and what will not. That nearly goes without saying. But, perhaps more importantly, leaders have to be able to distinguish between right and wrong. Leaders have to have strength of character, moral fiber, and ethics standards and hold others, and themselves, accountable to those standards.
I’ve not seen many cases where leaders failed on the basis of technical competency. But we all have vivid images of failures of senior leaders who failed because of immoral or unethical behaviors.
LESSON 1: A leader’s Personal and Professional Ethics are at least as important as technical competence, and perhaps even more so.
The next two lessons sprout from common management dicta.
The first is that you should never bring a problem to the table unless you have a solution in mind. Sounds good at first blush, and we’ve all heard it hundreds of times, but upon reflection it’s an absurd proposition.
Suppose a seaman, working diligently in the lower decks of the engine room of the ship at sea, notices a major leak, but has no idea how to fix it. Should that seaman bring the problem forward?
The rule would have the seaman remain silent, return to duty, and watch the leak fill the hold. On the other hand, the Captain of the vessel, knowing of the leak, would probably have some good ideas on how to fix the problem. But the Captain DOESN’T know about it because the seaman remained silent; and the ship sinks.
LESSON 2: Encourage people to come forward with problems, no matter how difficult the issue, and no matter if they have an idea on how to solve it. If they have a recommendation, so much the better.
But if not, bring the issue forward in any case. Leaders are paid the big bucks to know how to solve difficult problems. Instructing people not to bring problems forward unless they have a solution stifles communication and innovation.
The second comes from the age-old complaint of leadership: “I spend 90 percent of my time with 10 percent of my people, and those 10 percent are the trouble makers.” Well, if that’s what you’re saying about your own style of leadership, then you’re suffering from a self-inflicted wound. Here’s the sight picture.
You’re in your office, totally consumed with issues generated by the most difficult or non-productive members of your organization. But outside your office, waiting for your attention, is a line of individuals who work hard and produce results. They need to speak with you. But you won’t give them your full attention.
The solution should be obvious. Engage the productive folks first and foremost. Let the troublemakers wait, for as long as necessary, until you have satisfied the needs of those who produce results. After all, you’re a leader and you’re going to be working well after hours anyway. Let the more difficult individuals wait.
LESSON 3: Spend your time with the good folks; let the troublemakers cool their jets in the holding pen.
In sum, time is a teacher; hopefully it teaches you well. Some lessons are harder learned and earned than others. But remember, you can learn from everyone and everything.
Go For It!