Leadership is an invitation to greatness that we extend to others.
CHALLENGE
As leaders, how prepared are we to learn from outliers? I'm not simply talking about those who "think outside the box." I am referring to those who are not, and never will be, in the box at all - beyond the fringe as we happily define it.
And what if we discover that there is no box at all? Speaking oxymoronically, would chaos then be "normative"?
Whoa!
That would upset every sense of normal, challenge all our rationalizations, and question the time-honoured assumptions about what is acceptable and what is not.
Yes, reality is complex at heart and random as the wind.
And if we believe that leadership is an invitation to greatness that we extend to others, then do we have the Mind Strength to lead?
CONTEXT
My insights are drawn from The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain by Drs. Brock L. Eide and Fernette F. Eide. The book is challenging and not always easy to read, but its ideas provide a compelling framework for thinking about the mind strength required of leaders.
From a systemic point of view, dyslexics are outliers - in school and in society.
When I was growing up, my dyslexic brother was considered dumb because he could not read like the rest of us kids. Today, it would be politically incorrect to call anyone dumb. Disadvantaged, perhaps, but not dumb, stupid, or a numbskull.
I am unsure whether we live in more enlightened times, or whether we have simply developed less harsh language to place people into categories that differ from our sense of normal.
The point is not dyslexia itself. The point is that leadership begins when we recognize that people are built to think differently.
The good Drs. Eide provide insights into dyslexia that we can apply to leadership.
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Dyslexics are built to work differently.
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Well, everyone is built to work differently, whether they are dyslexic or not. In extending an invitation to greatness to others, who are those others? How are they built? What does greatness mean to them?
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Well, everyone is built to work differently, whether they are dyslexic or not. In extending an invitation to greatness to others, who are those others? How are they built? What does greatness mean to them?
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Dyslexics are heroes on a perilous but promising quest.
- Well, greatness is not a category or even a destination. It is a journey - a perilous quest, a challenge - both for the leader who invites and for the follower who is invited. Do we, as leaders, and those whom we lead have the strength to take up such a quest? Do we even have the right to extend such an invitation? Is it an invitation to failure or to success?
- Well, greatness is not a category or even a destination. It is a journey - a perilous quest, a challenge - both for the leader who invites and for the follower who is invited. Do we, as leaders, and those whom we lead have the strength to take up such a quest? Do we even have the right to extend such an invitation? Is it an invitation to failure or to success?
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No one is ever cured of dyslexia.
- Well, no one is ever assured of greatness. The journey is fraught with the potential for both success and failure. Like Odysseus, how can we navigate between the Scylla and Charybdis of our own unmaking as we extend an invitation to greatness to others? He had a ship. We don't.
THE MIND STRENGTH MODEL
One of the most fascinating outcomes of the research conducted by the Drs. Eide is their MIND Strength Model. Dyslexics are built to work differently, and by extension, so are we all.Â
To me, MIND Strength is a leadership model identifying the strengths of those extending the invitation to greatness and those who accept the challenge. Leaders embrace the different ways people "see the world" - the strengths and capabilities, skills, knowledge, and aptitudes (SKAs) that people bring to any situation.
In turn, leaders derive strength from the strength of others. The journey to greatness is a dialogue between inviter and invited, leader and led.
M — Material Reasoning
The ability to reason about the physical and material world: shape, size, motion, position, orientation, and interaction. Examples: Engineer, Surgeon, Mechanic.
I — Interconnected Reasoning
The ability to recognize connections between objects, concepts, experiences, and points of view. Examples: Chef, Actor, Musician.
N — Narrative Reasoning
The ability to construct connected mental stories from experience to explain the present, recall the past, and imagine future possibilities. Examples: Public Relations, Sales, Poet.
D — Dynamic Reasoning
The ability to make practical predictions and informed judgments where precise answers are not possible. Examples: Entrepreneur, Logistician, Farmer.
Those who extend an invitation to greatness - and those who accept that invitation - are:
- people who can gauge physical realities, assess constraints, and design practical solutions (Material Reasoning);
- people who can connect ideas, systems, and perspectives into a functioning whole (Interconnected Reasoning);
- people who can communicate meaning through stories, vision, and shared understanding (Narrative Reasoning);
- people who can anticipate opportunity, embrace uncertainty, and make decisions despite incomplete information (Dynamic Reasoning).
Leadership derives its strength not from finding people who think like us, but from recognizing, valuing, and developing the different ways people think.
Leadership Challenge
Think of four people you work with regularly. Choose people who approach problems very differently. Now ask yourself:
- Who naturally sees the practical, physical realities of a situation?
- Who instinctively connects ideas, people, or systems?
- Who helps others understand through stories, examples, or communication?
- Who is comfortable making decisions when certainty doesn't exist?
Now ask one final question:
Which of these strengths do I naturally value most? Which do I tend to overlook?