Today I went to a seminar on leadership at the University of Chicago. The presenter has studied leadership for over 60 years and is obviously extremely knowledgeable. There were about 75 to 100 people in the room. It was a big room so the acoustics were not great. The presenter, however, didn’t want to wear – or use – a microphone. The back third of the room couldn’t hear anything he was saying. I heard the program organizer ask his assistant why the presenter wasn’t wearing a microphone. She replied that he refused the microphone. Luckily, the program organizer (a peer of the presenter) interrupted the program and convinced the presenter to wear the microphone.

Shortly thereafter the presenter started writing on flip charts. I have perfect vision and out of all the sheets of pages he wrote on, I could make out exactly two words. It was disappointing as I know that what he was saying and writing was of great importance. He did comment that he knew probably some of the folks in the room wouldn’t be able to read his flip charts, but he didn’t want to learn or use technology.

A couple of things struck me:
First, it was a great reminder to myself not to become so entrenched in doing things the way that I like to do them that I forget why I am doing them in the first place!

Second – and most importantly – his actions, with all due respect, seemed at odds with one of the key principles of leadership: the leader must meet the needs of those he or she is leading. If the followers needs are not met, they will not continue to follow.

This is a critical point. In this case, even though the presenter had massive expertise, it wasn’t delivered to us because we couldn’t hear it or see it. This is, however, not just a leadership theory that applies only to those who are executives. This applies to every leader: parents, managers, teachers, salespeople, and customer service representatives. Every one of these roles involves leading and/or influencing another person.

I am sure that we all have our own example of being in a sales meeting with someone who had no true interest in meeting our needs. We could tell that they were only there to serve their needs by the way that they followed their script, stuck to their presentation, didn’t ask us questions about what was important to us, and who didn’t really listen to us. The likely result of that meeting – unless we were extremely desperate for that product or service – was “No Sale.”

If we want people to follow (whether that is in our teams, our families, or in sales), then we need to be aware of and attentive to their needs. The bottom line is that we don’t, someone else will.

The next time you are in front of a client, prospect, or your team, ask yourself whose needs you are really serving – yours or theirs.

To Your Success,

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