Sharing Acquired Wisdom

As we closed our look at “The Strength of Humility,” earning “Influence Over Authority,” and the importance of “Knowing Our Worth,” I stressed the idea of creating a legacy that lives well beyond what we do individually. More than any other thing I’ve experienced, that’s how we can best leverage leadership growth. By acknowledging our limits and asking the right questions, we can indeed overcome our own knowledge gaps, but the real strength we develop through great professional relationships will shine as we become intentional about sharing the wisdom we acquire through a sustained learning mindset. Developing others serves as a path to leadership, and paying forward the expert insights we learn along the way builds our leadership legacy.

Today, Cindy and I have the privilege of coaching dozens of high-level managers, executives, and business owners. One of the most common issues we work through with them is succession planning; not just tied to when they inevitably retire, but how they (and their entire organization) can be prepared for any key contributor hitting the lottery - or being hit by a bus… Like developing or sustaining our own learning mindset, this never happens automatically. Training someone on anything, even when that’s an absolutely necessary part of the onboarding process for new team members, requires time from our schedule that few leaders have to spare. When sharing acquired wisdom is a lofty idea that’s nice to have rather than something that must happen to keep all of our plates spinning, it nearly always gets pushed aside for any number of more urgent things demanding our time.

Having recently mentioned Maxwell’s teaching on “the three R’s” in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, there’s a fourth R that he introduced in Good Leadership Ask Great Questions (although I can’t remember the specific chapter): Reproduction. When we cover that in the final lesson of our Emerging Leader Development course, we emphasize the importance of delegating not just to free up time but to develop the team member who stands to gain the most by taking on the task. As we share any wisdom we’ve been able to acquire from the experts who make up our knowledge network, we should apply that same approach: who stands to gain the most from the lessons we’ve learned and how can we share those lessons in a way that they can apply them in practice so they develop - in their current role or toward a future opportunity.

Acknowledging our limits opens the door for identifying the experts we’ll need to learn from. Sharing the wisdom we acquire brings it full circle. But that won’t happen if we fail to master the art of responsiveness so we’ll cover that in detail next. Until then, I’ll leave with a challenge to teach just one colleague something you’ve learned. For good measure, pick a colleague you wouldn’t normally be required to provide training for. And do it to build a lasting legacy, not just because you have to.