Much has been written by many great thinkers on the enigma of leadership but there is one skill that all the best leaders have which separates them out from the pack. While much of leadership assessment focuses on emotional intelligence and the way individuals can be coralled towards a long-term vision, there is one leadership skill which is underrated by leaders and experts alike.
This is possibly because it is more of a management skill than a leadership skill. But it is what sets the greatest leaders apart from others.
The skill I look for in leaders is the ability to change their opinion when presented with new evidence, data or facts. It takes real courage to shut down a project that is not delivering, to throw away the vision you have worked so hard to achieve, to stop the dream plan and start another.
While many leadership books lionize the leader who pursued something when everyone was telling them it wouldn't work or wasn't right, a more common story is the leader that ignores the evidence and continues with the vision, wrecking the organization in the process.
Great leaders change their opinion when the facts tell them something is not working. They know when to pull the plug. They look at the key performance indicators and accept reality. They give enough time but not too much. They don't keep hoping that things will change when the data is telling a different story. They know when to cut their losses and quit.
Can you teach this? By definition it is a skill gained by experience but you can challenge yourself: ask yourself at key decision points whether the facts are matching the rhetoric.
The greatest leaders know when to stop one thing and then start something else. Do you?