okay in podcast number seven you answered a question which was
essentially about how a subordinate might cope with a leader
who wasn't competent um so this this person
is interested in your thoughts on the opposite side of the coin for example
if you're that guy quote unquote and you know it
how can you still lead a team effectively given the lack of competence
given the lack of confidence can undermine the team's trust and
confidence in you so so this question is you are that guy
yeah you're the guy that doesn't have the knowledge you're the guy that's
inexperienced you're the guy that just got hired that's good that he
you know it that's good right yes he's doing a good job by recognizing
that's that is step number one he's recognized that he's the guy
that he's inexperienced doesn't have the knowledge etc so
this this question while it might seem like a
tough question it's actually easier than you might think because
competence and knowledge definitely are very beneficial for leadership
the knowledge piece and on and knowing the technical side of what you're trying
to lead a team in but it is definitely not mandatory
now if you don't have it of course you should strive to get it because it will
make you a better leader but in certain
situations there's times where you have to lead and you have to lead
now that does happen so what do you do and how do you lead when
you're in that situation and it's actually pretty easy
you lead almost the exact same you way that you would in any other situation
humbly and with an open mind so leadership is the same
regardless of what you know think about it leadership is the same regardless of
what you know what you're going to do is you're going
to gather ideas because you don't really have in your own so you're going to
gather them from the other people right you're
going to explore the different methods right
because you don't know any of the other methods so you're just going to explore
and say how would you do it how would you do it
you're going to weigh the different courses of action
because you're not sure which one is going to be the best it's not going
to be super evident which course of action is going to be the best you're
going to listen listen to what people are saying you're
going to keep an open mind and you hear what they're saying
you're going to show that you're a quick learner
and you're going to listen and learn and how do you show that you're a quick
learner you show that you're a quick learner by
being a quick learner and how do you be a quick learner
by studying so when it comes when there's stuff that you should know
then you study it and you learn it and you prove
and then you take all this information that you've got and you weigh
the decision and then you make one and again that's how you should be
leading anyways right so let me ask you this just
because you know the most right if you are the most knowledgeable
on the team does that mean you're gonna plan everything yourself
no no it doesn't does that mean you're going to make your decisions in a vacuum
by yourself just no if you're a good leader you're not
going to do that at all does it mean you're going to
make decisions and move forward without consulting with people
no it doesn't so all this means is that you're going to do all those things you
are going to get consensus from the group you're going to get people on
board you're going to talk to them and see what their their ideas are
and again i shouldn't have used the word consensus because you can't always
lead by consensus that can be that can become difficult but you're going to
listen you're going to learn you're going to talk to people about what
you're doing and that's how you're going to lead
again it's almost the exact same the only thing
that gets added if you are sort of a technical expertise you can be
a little bit more of a sanity check on you know let's say a plan that people
are coming up with if if if we were doing a computer
you know software engineering problem i would not be able to add my technical
expertise but if you know for the comp the engineers came
to me and presented what their ideas were
i'd be able to look at them logically and say okay explain to me out and ask
enough questions until i said okay guys here's what i'm thinking here i think we
should go with you know method b or whatever
and the other people can kind of counter and then eventually we can
make that decision happen so if i had the knowledge myself then i could
make that decision a little bit easier and i could add a little bit of a sanity
check but it's not life and death uh
and the other thing that's interesting is when you do have the knowledge
yourself you can you can actually come off as a
know-it-all which is not a good leader so in both cases whether you are the
technical expert or whether you're not the leadership principles stay the same
be humble be open-minded listen
learn and lead