Simon Sinek has a short YouTube video titled, The Truth about Being the “Stupidest” in the Room. The summary of the video is how important it is to ask great questions.
Over the years I have observed a common behavioral stumble among many leaders; they don’t ask questions, they give orders. The stumble is based on a mistaken belief that the leader has to be the smartest person in the room (SPIR, pronounced ‘spear’) in order to justify being the leader. Smartest people tell because they don’t need to ask.
Working for/with SPIR’s can be difficult, as they often use themselves as the standard that all others fail to meet. The single word that sometimes is used to describe this type of leader is arrogant. Working for a SPIR can be frustrating at best, demoralizing at worse (SPIRs stab people in the back of their self-esteem).
In the April 2019 Harvard Business Review article, How to Work for a Boss Who Has Unrealistic Expectations, author Liz Kislik describes the behavior of bosses with unrealistic expectations this way:
“They don’t take into account the facts on the ground, or they habitually refer to their past experiences at other companies rather than to the people and events in the current organization…”
From my experience, she just described a SPIR. I have noticed that what underlies the behavior of unrealistic expectations is the internal conversation these bosses have with themselves – “this is the way I would do it”. They then hold everyone else to their standard. Without using the term SPIR, Kislik proposes some great solutions for subordinates to use to manage this type of situation.
To help reduce “SPIRing” their subordinates, I propose a concept that I have been calling The Intelligent Use of Ignorance. The basics of the concepts are simple; 1). Resist the habitual urge to display how smart you think you are and 2). Make fewer statements, ask more questions. The implementation of the concept is where the details are crucial and thus requires a comprehensive plan. The benefits of the Intelligent Use of Ignorance
- Teach subordinate how you think
- Teach subordinate how you respond to their inevitable mistakes
- Allow you to learn something you did not know
Great leaders don’t use their ignorance like a light switch, on or off. Instead, they use it like a dimmer switch, they assess to what degree is my ignorance useful or helpful to everyone. Leaders have to learn how to navigate the subtleties of The Intelligent Use of Ignorance. It is very easy to overshot the mark and simply appear to be an ignorant leader. Implementation of the concept requires artfulness and finesse.
Are you or someone you know, “SPIRing” their subordinates?