“Open and Full of Wonder”

“Perhaps the very best advice we can give all aspiring leaders is to remain humble and unassuming – to always remain open and full of wonder.” I love this quote from The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner. But let me be clear. Even though I love the quote, I’m also deeply challenged by it because I realize how often I failed to follow this advice. Reflecting on Kouzes and Posner’s advice helps me see why I often fall short. I have a deeply ingrained desire to be the person with the answers. When you know the answer to every question, it’s hard to be open and full of wonder. In fact, contrary views are seen as annoyances. Of course, when others see this reaction, their interest in collaborating drops to zero. This points to another important characteristic of the leader who is open and full of wonder. It is adopting a posture that values different gifts and abilities and that is slow to judge others. This kind of leader is more likely to say, “I wonder why they did (or said) that.” When that happens, the leader will draw closer to a colleague. The contrasting style tends to put negative labels on people and push them away. Openness invites others to envision new possibilities for tomorrow and to help create that future. It’s an abundance mentality rather than one based on scarcity. This mindset looks for solutions rather than listing reasons why something won’t work. I’ll readily admit that this is hard to do. Once a leader bumps into enough hard doses of reality, it can be difficult to be open and full of wonder. But even though it’s not easy, it is the kind of leadership that others want to follow. So how well does this description fit you? And how are you mentoring other aspiring leaders to remain open and full of wonder? It’s easy to receive my blogs by email. Just sign-up on Feedburner by clicking here.]]>