Learning leadership from crises

Here’s a great – and free – learning method for anyone wanting to become a leader or to improve their leadership:

👉🏻 Watch leaders during crises.

• What they say, how they behave.
• The effects on their teams, organizations, stakeholders, constituencies.
• Government leaders, business leaders … any kind of leader and at all levels.

Anytime you see, read, or hear something that strikes you as either effective or not effective leadership, make a quick note. If on a computer or device, save the item and annotate it as needed.

Periodically review your notes and pick one (or a very few) top things to work on. Observe how you do and adjust as needed.

Your observations will also help you identify your perspectives on leadership. In time, the accumulated notes and annotations will build your own leadership book of how you think leadership should work (and not work!).

The act of formalizing observations by making notes will also make you a better observer, which in turn is an important aspect of leadership as well.

Crises present usually present more obvious learning examples … however, this approach can work anytime 🙂

 

P.S. Not convinced? Even children have used a process like this 🙂
The Blue’s Clues children’s TV show had a recurring theme, at least in early episodes, of Notice-Note-Noodle … children were encouraged to follow the host along in noticing clues, making notes about them, and then thinking (there was even a thinking chair in the show!) to figure out the clues.