Page 180 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

LEADERS ARE GREAT LISTENERS

led by personal decorum, expression of positive social values, and clear
respect for others, including those with whom he had disagreements.”
Author, political scientist, and educator Dr. Thomas Cronin (WHF
66–67) shares Rodriguez’s opinion that the ability to listen is essential to
effective leadership. Cronin was assigned to work with former White
House Press Secretary Bill Moyers for most of his Fellowship year and also
developed a close relationship with John Gardner, who became a mentor
to him. Cronin calls listening “squinting with one’s ear” and says it’s the
most important yet underrated leadership tool there is. “The capacity to
listen much better than other people is what sets a leader apart from
others,” Cronin explained. “Leaders are asked to represent, to rally, to
mobilize, to be coalition builders, agreement builders, all those things. But
if they’re not very good at listening to their constituents and to the people
that are in conflict with them, they’re destined to fail. I see leaders faltering
along the wayside all the time who aren’t able to listen. This is a lesson that
comes from the ancient classics. Sophocles’s Antigone, for example, is really
a story about listening, and many of Shakespeare’s plays are really about
the capacity to listen and understand and appreciate.”
Chances are that you’ve run across a hapless leader or maybe even two
or three who simply issued a directive on the fly without ever bothering
to consult team members for their thoughts or suggestions. There was no
buy-in, no collective judgment, and no focus. When the team members
gathered around the water cooler later, they probably muttered things to
each other such as “She doesn’t care what we think,” “Once she has her
mind made up, that’s it,” or “I’m not going to bust my hump for something
I know isn’t going to work.” If that leader had taken the time to solicit
input and then respectfully listen—really listen—to her team with a clear
goal in mind, she might have inspired them to develop their own plan, one
to which they were truly committed and one they believed they actually
could carry out. Cesar Aristeiguieta, Ron Quincy, Mitchell Reiss, Bill Cotter,
Richard Northern, Alex Rodriguez, and Tom Cronin all learned during
their White House Fellowships that the most effective leaders are the ones
who take the time to listen not just to their team members’ words but to
the priceless hidden meaning beneath them.

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