“How can you ensure that you give something of value to each of your team members, such that they will want you to lead them?”
It is slightly after 8 PM. I just finished a FaceTime call with my dad, who is staying in Taiwan until the country’s elections in January. He said something profound that I would like to share: If a leader is bringing no value to her team — if her team members collectively have the skills that she does — then if her nature permits it she will attempt to exert authority, with authority being her sole contribution to the team.
In addition to teams with leaders who add little value, diverse teams, teams whose members differ in characteristic greatly from the leader, are more prone to their leaders seeking to control the team. The small team that I described in an earlier post I expect became more homogenous after I left the group. Undoubtedly my ex-boss searched for a replacement for me who was as different from me as possible. After all, she had not understood how to use me as an employee. Given our tense relationship, very likely she also looked for someone whom she could better control, having regarded me as disrespectful.
My earlier post explained how to avoid facing the conundrum that my ex-boss did: First appreciate who your people are and then think about how to lead them. But how do you not become a leader who adds little benefit your team? How can you ensure that you give something of value to each of your team members, which would stoke their desire for you to lead them? My answer, which came to me spontaneously while I wrote this post and therefore will need further elaboration both by you and by me: Make your mind as versatile as you can.
The minds of the most secure leaders whom I know are supple. These individuals identify with people who are very unlike themselves. Even if these leaders lack skills that their team members have — indeed, this should be the case! — they understand how to harness the skills in order to accomplish objectives. These leaders do not say “I” and “my” when talking about their work. Instead, they say “we” and “our.” These leaders do not say, “Did they just go around me?” They have the confidence to compliment your work.
Recognizing good leadership is something that you as the students and postdocs of Stanford Biochemistry already know how to do. The idea of cultivating the mind, however, reminded me of the following post that I wrote for Stanford Duck Beta before the website became standuck.com. If you agree with the advice, then you could give it to members of your future teams.
Here is the former professor, addressing someone’s comment about not feeling special at Stanford. “To me, being special is not about outperforming others. If we focus here on the mind, what matters is thinking ‘well.’ And EVERYONE can learn this. Some people might have more computing power or flashes of brilliance, but that does not diminish what the rest of us have — especially considering that every mind is UNIQUE. Find mentors who say things that are insightful to you. Learn from these people.”