Effective leaders know and embrace the fact that they will not always have all the answers. Additionally, they will surround themselves with people who obviously know more about some things than they do.
In his classic book, The Magic of Thinking Big, David Schwartz shares this story about Henry Ford:
One time Henry Ford was involved in a libel suit with the Chicago Tribune. The Tribune had called Ford an ignoramus, and Ford said, in effect, “Prove it.”
The Tribune asked him scores of simple questions such as “Who was Benedict Arnold?” “When was the Revolutionary War fought?” and others, most of which Ford, who had little formal education, could not answer.
Finally he became quite exasperated and said, “I don’t know the answers to those questions, but I could find a man in five minutes who does. (1)
... and Ford built an automobile empire. You man have heard of it... it's called the Ford Motor Company!
Ford understood that he did not have to have all the answers and did not need to know everything, he just needed to know where and how to find the information.
Far too many people in positions of leadership fail to understand that effective leaders are best when they bring out the best in others. If the leader don't know something and someone else on their team does, they want to tap into that expertise. This does two things: first, it provides the missing information and, second, it boosts the self worth of the person who was asked. People are far more apt to contribute if they feel appreciated and are empowered to step forward without the risk of being ignored or worst, berated.
Strong effective leaders tap into the collective knowledge, talent, and expertise of each individual team member in order to strengthen the entire team!
(1) Excerpt From
The Magic of Thinking Big
David J. Schwartz
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-magic-of-thinking-big/id917780006
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