Do You Have All the Answers?

The acting President of the United States, on the Fox TV show 24, made a comment regarding leaders and followers that we all—celebrity or not—should consider before trying to weigh-in on the decisions that any of our leaders make. We all too often offer opinions on what should have been done in hindsight based on such limited information. This doesn’t mean that we should be blind followers, but that any criticisms we have, should be tempered with humility and an understanding that the information we have at our disposal is most often simplistic at best. We should judge the way we would want to be judged.

Noah Daniels reflected, “You know Tom, it’s easy to think you’ve got all the answers when none of the ultimate responsibility lies with you. But sittin’ in this chair.… Until you sit in this chair, you don’t know anything.”

In this regard you might be interested in an excellent post by Michael Watkins on the Harvard Business site: Welcome to the Panopticon: Are Leaders Under Too Much Scrutiny?