“How can you ensure that your team members will want you to lead them?”

It is slightly after 8 PM, and 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: If a leader is bringing no value to their team — if their team members collectively possess the skills that the leader does — then, if the nature of the leader permits it, the leader will attempt to exert authority with authority being their sole contribution to the team.

The minds of the most secure leaders whom I know are supple. These individuals identify with people very unlike themselves. Even if these leaders lack the skills of their team members — indeed, this circumstance any leader should crave! — the leaders understand how to harness those skills collectively to accomplish a breadth of objectives.

The idea of supple minds reminded me of a post that I wrote for Stanford Duck Beta before the website became standuck.com:

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 do 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.”