What CEOs Can Learn from Toddlers
This past weekend we were looking after our 2-year old granddaughter, Maesey, for an hour or so to cover for our daughter who wanted to get out for a long run.
We did the usual kid activities—some food, some colouring, some hide-the-duckies, some toys and some reading.
What strikes me is her enthusiasm as she answers, "Yes !" for the 7th time to my question, "Again ?"
I mean, we’ve read the 8-page book, "The Red Train" probably a hundred times before today and she’s excited about another read !
Forget about the stamina of putting up with repetition—the real question is, how do you build a mindset that is super-curious to what on the surface is routine and mundane ?
Curiosity is the root of creativity and innovation and if you’re leading you need to be curious.
Unless you can go back to being 2 years old, you’re going to have to build a superpower for curiosity.
This means, giving up:
knowing it all
not asking for help
doing it yourself
discounting the views of people with less experience than you
judging
telling others what to do
overthinking
It also means,
being vulnerable
asking for help
leaning in
asking more questions
spending more time in nature
You can try to work on all these ideas or you could adopt one simple habit and the rest of these behaviours will fall into place naturally. Actually, it’s not quite that cause and effect but it’s pretty darn close.
The one simple habit we’re talking about is a gratitude practice.
Many people believe leadership requires one to have an arsenal of complex methodologies. I say they are wrong. Effective, real-world leaders zone in on the simple practices that actually move the needle for themselves and their people. Gratitude is one of one those practices.
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