Starting With ‘The Ask’: How Thought Leaders Empower Their Teams

When I was in my teens, just starting out in the workforce selling tickets and popcorn at a movie theater, I had a boss. That’s it. A boss. Not a director. Not a leader. And definitely not a coach or a mentor. Just a boss named Dennis, who was out on parole for manufacturing cocaine… 

Anyhow, my boss’s duties included turning in my timecards, lecturing me on upselling—“For a dollar more you can get the large popcorn!”—and, well, that’s pretty much it. 

Since Dennis, I’ve had many quote-unquote “bosses.” And one thing I’ve noticed is that there’s been a shift in the concept of “boss.” For one, nobody has a title on their business card that says, “Boss.” Actually, that would be cool in a Daniel Ocean (from Ocean’s 11) kind of way— 

Name: Maria Silverstein

Title: The Boss

Hmmm… 

Nobody uses “boss” as their title and nobody wants to be bossed around! It’s a basic psychological principle, as pointed out by Dr. David D. Burns in his book Feeling Good: “When you give in to pushy demands, you get the feeling the individual controlled you, and this robs you of self-respect. No one likes to be coerced.” Nope. Today, especially in business industries like ours, we’ve begun to invest in a concept called “Thought Leadership.” 

What is Thought Leadership? It’s leadership that reflects your team’s vision and uniqueness. Thought Leaders recognize that the individuals on their teams are the lifeblood of their organization…of their productivity.

As a Thought Leader you don’t just tell your team to produce. To process more loans. To sell more popcorn. You collaborate with them to create a vision. A mission. A purpose everyone buys into…

Thought Leadership is thinking about your team and how to provide them with value, how to help them solve problems, and how to help them achieve aspirations and goals.

This all sounds so progressive and eloquent, doesn’t it? Thought Leadership. 

But is this what your team calls you when they’re talking about their workday at dinner with their families? Do they say, “My Thought Leader really listened to my ideas today!” Or, do they have another name for you?

Whoa. This isn’t the direction I thought we were headed! Don’t worry. This article has a positive ending, but just think for a moment…

While the concept of Thought Leadership is appealing, how are you really leading your teams? Are you applying your Thought Leadership skills, or are you finding yourself caught up in the grind of just doing business day-in and day-out? It’s an easy trap to fall into. 

The thing is, if we allow ourselves to be controlled by all those inevitable little fires that pop up on a daily basis, we risk becoming, dare I say it—Dennis. 

So who is a good example of a Thought Leader? 

Does the name Reed Hastings sound familiar? If not, Hastings is the CEO of Netflix. About 10 years ago, he published a 125-slide deck on LinkedIn’s SlideShare site that outlined the inner workings of his approach to Thought Leadership. The content of his SlideShare has been heralded by many business leaders, including Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO, who regarded Hasting’s share as “the most important document ever to come out of the [Silicon] valley.”

When you view Hasting’s insightful SlideShare, you’ll see that one of his top communication strategies is to “listen well, instead of reacting fast, so that you can better understand.”

Hence, the challenge portion of this blog. Ready for it?

Here it is: Ask your team if they have the tools, the training, and the setting they need in order to function best in their roles. Then listen well, and—as long as their requests are compliant—give them what they want. Empower them.

For instance, if you’re an AE, consider asking your OPS team what would make the process better for them…make them more efficient? It might be that they need you, yes YOU, to field some of the calls they’re getting so that they can produce more. If this is the case, do it. (And if you’re on the OPS side, ask your AEs the same question! Regardless of what “side” you’re on, you’re all part of the sales team. AEs set expectations and explain the operations process to customers. And the way someone on the operations side simply answers the phone can make or break a relationship! In short, the entire team should have one another’s backs and respect each person’s role, which starts with the aforementioned “ask.”) 

When I came aboard MindEquity, I was virtually blown away when my boss, uhem, I mean Thought Leader, asked me what software programs, training, and support I needed to carry out our vision. In fact, she had to work to get it out of me because I’d been trained by former “bosses” to think only of the bottom-line and to work with what I had. 

Sidenote: My first lesson in my new role—working strictly off your P&L can actually cause you to lose money! Moreover, you want to be aware of your P&L but not so attached to it that you fear making investments in tools that will enable your team to create a healthy bottom-line: you just need to know your desired end result and use that as the “why” (or “why not”) for making such investments. 

In short— Ask your team what they need to function best at their jobs. Then deliver. Because…it works. Being a “Dennis” doesn’t. Trust me.