Early in his career, Jason Hunt believed two myths about leadership. The first: Leaders must have all the answers. The second: Leaders have to solve all their problems on their own.
“As I've worked with new leaders, I have found these myths, these mistakes, these falsehoods, are actually very common,” says Hunt, author, leadership consultant and an MDRT Center for Field Leadership speaker at the 2021 MDRT Annual Meeting Virtual Event. “So question yourself here. Do you believe these two myths?”
If you’re a believer, take a minute to think more closely, Hunt says. “If leaders are able to solve all the problems and have all of the information, then why would you need a team around you? Because we don't have all the information, and we can't solve all the problems.”
Fortunately, there are only two simple steps needed to advance past this mentality, Hunt said.
First, ask questions of your team: How can we get better at what we're doing? What are your strengths? What are your possibilities? What are your dreams? What do you want to learn about?
Listen intently. Just stop talking. Permit the pause. Hunt trained himself to count to three every single time somebody else finished talking.
“There were two things that happened when I would do this. No. 1, they kept talking, and what they shared was wonderful,” Hunt said. “Second, the [additional] things they were sharing were so much better than the [initial] things, and my responses were better because I actually listened to what they were saying.”
