Leaders, we are facing a huge challenge. The world we find ourselves in is one rapidly growing to include more and more ways that others think for us (reviews, podcasts, AI, auto-correct, talking heads, Siri, social media buzz, ad infinitum). The results? People are less and less thinking for themselves. In fact, in several research articles, it turns out the Smartphone is making us dumber. Apparently, those being tested did far worse when their Smartphone was with them, not even turned on, than when their phone wasn’t even in the room.
Our job is not to turn the clock back before technology or the internet, but to recognize that one of the side effects of all this is that people are not being challenged to think for themselves. How can you model the leadership quality of cranking up the old brain machine and seeing what it spits out? This isn’t about always having original ideas, but it is about using personal experiences, logic, thoughtfulness, intuition and common sense to navigate instead of jumping off the cliff following the lead lemming.
One time a trip back into the United States, a close friend of mine was following a long line of people into the customs line. The first person must have been a Canadian, because everyone was just mindlessly following the line that said Foreign Residents. She veered from the followers to enter a different, completely empty line that said US Residents. When she was asked what she was doing, she said with a pretty loud voice that she was an American citizen and watched while the other line (shocked awake) now emptied out from the Foreign Resident line to line up behind her.
A leader needs to be observant, attentive, aware and at the same time empowering. How can you empower or model the concept of thinking for oneself? Well, by doing it. And also giving others the space to respond. Being patient, asking what does a person think without pushing or imputing your will on them. Expecting others to be able to think, not what they are told to think, but for themselves. THIS is how you will get original, creative, box-busting ideas. Have you ever asked someone, What do you want to do? Does this make sense to you? Why not? If you were in charge, what would you do? What change would you make?
Then you wait, maybe you ask them to think about it and let you know the next day. Maybe you put them on the spot, often this is where gut intuition comes in, not thinking with just the brain, but putting it all together, all the life experiences, the knowledge, logic and intuition. This is thinking for yourself as only you can because there is only one you.
