What are We Doing?

The best judge of a person is not the answers that they give but the questions they ask. –Voltaire

When it comes to looking for a leader to develop and execute a business strategy, we always seem to be looking for the person we perceive to be the smartest in the room. This may not be the smartest thing to do.

The ‘superstar’ leader model has created the myth that great leaders have all the answers. Our culture doesn’t only hunt for super smart leaders, we idolize them. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, the late Steve Jobs are a few of the leaders seen today as "Star" leaders.

Psychologists have taken this myth a step further, trying to help enterprises predict future leaders by determining who is the smartest person in the room. The IQ test was developed in the early 1900’s to measure a person’s ‘Intelligence Quotient’. The higher the IQ the more leadership potential was the thinking of the day. The 1990’s saw us move on from IQ to EQ, which is a measure of a leader’s Emotional Intelligence. Emotionally intelligent leaders supposedly better connect with their team. Better emotional connections lead to better business results we’re told.  Most recently Covid has brought yet another measure called CQ; Crisis Quotient. CQ measures a leader’s ability to handle a crisis and make tough decisions. However, each of these measures, IQ, EQ and CQ all suffer from the same bias. They’re all looking for the next "great" leader who will have all the answers and pilot the enterprise safely into the future. Here’s the problem with that thesis…

Research shows that great leaders rarely have all the answers, and they may not actually be the smartest person in the rooms as measured by IQ, EQ and the like. In today’s fast paced world where markets are shifting faster than a Hogwarts staircase, great leaders know how to find solutions to tough business problems by asking the right questions and asking them in the right way!

Author Pia Lauritzen found that the quality of a leader wasn’t defined by the answers they gave but rather by the questions they asked and how they asked them. She also pointed out that high performing organizations tend not only to share decision making responsibility but build that style of cooperation into their business culture.

"When leaders use questions to reinforce shared responsibility they think, talk, and behave as if everyone is already on the same page". The questions great leaders ask are designed to ensure everyone is focused on solving the same problem. Rather than coming up with their own definitive answers, good leaders design questions in a way that engages their team to find a solution.

Dr. Lauritzen discovered that the pronouns leaders use signal who is taking responsibility for fixing the problem. The distinction between "I", "Me and "You," versus using "We" is significant. Leaders that ask "We" questions help their team connect and commit to a shared purpose and shared responsibility. Using "We" questions and asking teams to explore answers to key strategic questions invites the team to explore and contribute together resulting in a better strategy and better execution.

Here are some lessons can we draw from Dr. Lauritzen’s work:

1. Great leaders don’t (and shouldn’t) have all the answers.

2. Great leaders ask great questions that focus their team on the key problem.

3. Great leaders help their team navigate uncertainty by asking "We" questions making the solution everyone’s responsibility. 

As a leader of your business, it’s important to resist the temptation to provide your own answers to all the questions. Instead, invite your team to explore and answer strategic questions effectively bridging the "I" and "you" gap. Using "We" invites your team to contribute. It places developing and executing a strategy as a shared responsibility which results in a better outcome.