Author: Juli Shulem
When I was in high school i realized Leaders You Dont Need To Have All The Answers, there was a teacher that had a brilliant line when he was asked a question that he didn’t know the answer to in the moment. He would state: “That is beyond the scope of this course,” with a […]
When I was in high school i realized Leaders You Dont Need To Have All The Answers, there was a teacher that had a brilliant line when he was asked a question that he didn’t know the answer to in the moment. He would state: “That is beyond the scope of this course,” with a smile.
The class would always chuckle because on the first day of class, he shared that he would say that exact sentence when he was asked such a question. He turned out to be a great teacher and one whom all the students admired and spoke highly of.
Coaching leaders who fret that they should have all the answers often reminds me of this teacher. Simply put: Leaders don’t always have to have an answer – especially in the moment. As leaders, believing you know everything is a sure-fire way to lose respect and fall flat on your face. When your direct reports ask for guidance, information, or help in some way – they are needing your support – generally not an immediate answer. Sometimes they don’t want any answer at all – they just want to be guided in finding their own answer. Other times they just might need to talk it out and come to some conclusions by being listened to.
Ah-ha…so how do you discern what to do in such a situation?
First of all, remember that you are leading a TEAM. You are not a ‘Solo-Preneur.’ Collaboration is expected and preferred. Each member of your team wants to feel valued – that means that sometimes THEY would like to have the answer once-in-a-while. And then you have an opportunity to praise their success in solving that problem. This does not remove your power or leadership – it ignites it! Consider what happens when you delegate to a team member to find an answer or solve a problem:
You are not weakened by empowering others. It is actually a sign of strength when you empower others. You are putting your trust in them and the majority of the time – those people will rise to the occasion and be excited about their job and the role they play. You, as leader, may find at times you are simply making sure everything is running on time, happening as it needs to, and keeping all the balls in the air until the project is complete.
I learned years ago that having all the answers is truly impossible. Expecting to be able to do so, is a sure path to feeling like a failure and winding up with lowered self-esteem. The best you can do is work at finding the answer…and sometimes that may mean you go to someone else who knows more about a subject than you might.
I explained to a supervisor recently that even the CEO of a company doesn’t have all the answers. They don’t even know how to do everything that is done within that company – even if they founded it. But what they do know how to do is hire people who know more than they do and let those people lead. They delegate in the purest form. Business is a group effort. Can you imagine if Google or Apple were run by one person??? Exactly!
Article written by: Juli Shulem, M.S., CPC, PCP an Organizing Expert from Georgia.
Contact Us at WeSpeak Global and follow us on Twitter
Author Profile
The articles, video and images embedded on these pages are from various speakers and talent.
These remain the property of its owner and are not affiliated with or endorsed by WeSpeak Global.
Our internal reward system drives us to do what we like to do for Use purpose-driven routines. What we need to do to fulfill our chosen purpose is however not always what we like to do. That’s why it’s so important to plug our “purpose fulfilling activities” into routines; behaviors driven by habit, not by […]
The Mindset That Makes Me a Successful Speaker and communicating well have been integral parts of my identity for as long as I can remember. Whether it was a classroom full of my peers back in school or an auditorium full of strangers at a big event, there has always been something immensely fulfilling about […]
What are the warning signs of an empty resilience tank? HOW TO KNOW WHEN IT’S TIME TO PAUSE In my experience, there are four primary indicators that tend to show up each time my resilience tank is running low. They don’t always show up in the same order but, without fail, they will show […]
What’s Your New Year’s Addiction? Here are 6 Simple Steps To Avoid Changing Who You Are and Instead, Changing Your Addictions. It happened for years. Too often I would come home from work, open the refrigerator, then the freezer. I’d sigh and think, “F*ck, I have no idea what to make for dinner.” Sometimes I’d […]
What Makes Good Art? What makes art good? What makes work and business inherently good? To do good work, and create good work is something that we all want to do, right? We also want to be told that we have done something good, created something that people like and want. We want to know […]
Is email is killing your company your primary method for communicating with your colleagues? Then you have picked up a dangerous habit that is killing your company. Here’s why. 1. Email exacerbates knowledge hoarding What is your companies most important asset? Knowledge! It might not be booked to the balance sheet but your value is […]
I have heard I’m not really a water-person statement so many times. But what does it really mean? You come from water, you drink water, and it turns out – water knows you very well whether or not you want to be part of the relationship. We are all water people, you might just not […]
Wartime British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, said, “A lie travels halfway around the world before the truth has time to put its pants on.” Now, with the proliferation of social media, and twitter in particular, a lie can circumnavigate the globe before the truth even realises it’s not wearing trousers. And it took another […]
Our Mission
© All rights reserved 2025. Created using VOXEL THEME
