Wisdom from Kindergarten

Thanks Sandrit. You prompted me to dig out my copy of "Really important things my kids taught me" by Cynthia Copeland Lewis (available on Amazon - a great little book). I had turned down the corners of some of the pages that are leadership lessons we have forgotten as we grow older. Here are a few, with my comments in italic if it's not immediately obvious what the relevance is to leadership:

1. Remember everyone's favorite color

2. When you're being dragged, let go of the leash

3. The end isn't always where it should be

4. You have to be ready to jump when the rope swings under your feet

(Leadership means being responsive. Don't assume you are in control. Leaders are not in control. That's a great conceit that brings people down and the spirits of those around them.)

5. Being generous is giving half your sandwich away when it's peanut butter and jelly, not when it's liverwurst

(Don't protect your position and power. Don't sit on privilege as a right of your position. Give. When people see you value and protect their interests as much as your own, or moreso, they trust you as a leader).

6. If the flowers wilt, water them

(For 'flowers' read 'the people you work with'. Great leaders nurture and give energy)

7. Every piece of the puzzle that doesn't fit gets you closer to finding the one that does.

8. If a kid isn't paying attention, maybe it's because the person doing the talking isn't saying much worth listening to.

(Earn people's attention. Don't expect it.)

9. Ask why until you understand

10. If the flowers you draw don't look like anyone else's, that's good.

(Don't look for conformity and predictability. Look for diversity of thought and experience. That'll deliver the innovation you need. The market tells us difference wins.)

One more leadership lesson from childhood: I'm also reminded of an argument I got into with a supporter of the psychologist Robert Hogan, who argues that our personality type dictates whether we will be good leaders or not, and who constructs personality tests accordingly. The problem is that the traits tested for are based on an outmoded definition of leadership. "You can tell who the leaders will be from the playground" said the supporter of the idea that leadership is innate in people. "They are the ones in charge, telling the other kids what to do." No, no, no, no, no...They are, in many cases, the ones with assertive, even aggressive personalities who have a need to take control of other people and of situations and tell them what to do. Not always. But in many cases. And when you translate that into the grown up world, that describes a large proportion of the leaders we have in work and in politics. It's about the need to be in control and impose the agenda. And I strongly believe that is a core reason (thi misunderstanding of what leadership is) for the massive leadership deficit we have. 

I have a problem with point 2,as it's written here. Telling tales and being honest are not always related. I think the better 2nd part would be 'don't cry wolf'.

I have 2 kids, little boys, who get into all sorts of things they shouldn't. If something gets broken, I expect to be able to find out who did it, and if it was an accident, and I expect that information to come from them. If one of them is playing on the roof, I get as upset with the other one for not telling us, for not telling his brother to stop, as I do with the one who is out on the roof when he knows he shouldn't be.

A similar thing is, I think, necessary in leadership as well. I have to be able to rely on members of the team taking decisions themselves. But, if someone takes the wrong decision, and then tries to cover it up, I also expect that if other members find out, or knew about the mistake, that they would either persuade the person who made it to own up, or tell me (anonymously or not, doesn't matter) if they don't own up.

Colin.

"Proverbs 10:12  Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins."

"::LOVE IN LEADERSHIP IS SUPREME::"

the wisdom of kindergarden (actually earlier) is to be free rather than confined by arbitrary RULES passed on and on and on, usually by people that never understood the rules in the first place but eventually submitted to them so figure you should as well.

 

Rules are for the purpose of control.  Control is desired by those insecure.  Find yourself free of your insecurities and all everything to be what it is. 

"People hardly ever make use of the freedom the have. For example, the freedom of thought. Instead they demand freedom of speech as a compensation." Soren Kierkegaard