Not all Managers are Leaders. Moreover, not all Leaders are savvy. In this post, Ruth Simmons offers a few nuggets for those who aspire to be savvy Leaders. Wisdom-building lessons aren’t always where you’d expect to find them.
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In life, Simmons feels that learning is ongoing and that lessons can be learned when you least expect them. A Leader must not assume that lessons are always going to come ‘neatly tied in a bow’.
If one isn’t observant, an invaluable lesson may be missed. In a New York Times interview1 conducted towards the end of her 11-year Presidency at Brown University, she spoke on the importance of being open and the value that bad experiences can provide.
“I talk about this all the time with students. What I impart to them is that they should never assume that they can predict what experiences will teach them the most about what they value, or about what their life should be. And I would never have guessed that that experience [with a bad supervisor] would be so defining for me . . . you have to be open and alert at every turn to the possibility that you’re about to learn the most important lesson of your life.”
- When Adam Bryant asked about her “most important leadership lessons”, the exchange below took place. It was, Simmons stated, a critical turning point in her career.
Simmons: I had some bad experiences, and I don’t think we can say enough in leadership about what bad experiences contribute to our learning.
Bryant: Can you elaborate?
Simmons: I worked for someone who did not support me. And it was a very painful experience, and in many ways a defining experience for me. So having a bad supervisor probably started me thinking about what I would want to be as a supervisor. That led me to think about the psychology of the people I worked with. And, in some ways, because I had exhibited behavior that was not the most positive in the workplace myself, it gave me a mirror to what I might do that might be similarly undermining of others. So I think at that juncture that’s really when I started being much more successful.
LEARN
- As a leader, always be open and alert to the fact that ANY moment could be “the most important lesson” in your career. Be an observant, continuous learner, not an arrogant, ‘know it all’ ostrich.
- Understand that bad experiences can be important ‘learning moments’ too.
GROW
Let’s make this simple:
- Sometimes when you lose, you’ve really won.
- Sometimes when you win, you’ve really loss.
- Sometimes when you’re put in a bad situation, you’ll win in the end.
Simmons speaks very well to the third and first scenario. She learned how not to lead from a bad boss (#3). Due to her refreshing self-reflection, she notes that she’d been a less-than-perfect boss herself (#1), but being a victim of one herself she now ‘sees the light’. Do on to others as you would have them do on to you.
The middle scenario is what is often called a Pyrrhic victory. When you ‘win the battle, but loss the war’ what have you really won? The savvy Leader knows that they’ve won nothing.
“I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma“
Eartha Kitt
“If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost“
Zig Ziglar
“Success teaches us nothing; only failure teaches”
Hyman G. Rickover
Part of your success is being prepared when those around you stumble and fail. In the 5-lane highway that is being a Leader, you need to be aware of what’s happening in the other lanes – and in front and behind you too! If you drive as if you’re the only car on the highway, you’ll likely be in several avoidable career crashes. Savvy Leaders ‘drive wisely’. Leading her 3rd University, Simmons has done a lot of driving.
- Simmons encourages those who read her interview, and imparts to students she counsels, that savvy leaders need to be observant and learn from bad experiences.
#LeadLikeRuth
1 / Bryant, Adam. “I Was Impossible, but Then I Saw How To Lead. “The New York Times, December 4, 2011.
