Two meetings in two days that demonstrated to me one of the key attributes of a leader.
The first, the group shut up until the leader said his piece, making sure everyone in the room knew he had a strongly held view. Everyone rushed to agree with him, despite the fairly obvious contradiction contained in his diatribe.
The following day, another meeting, another client. The boss made sure that everyone had spoken before he did, and he acknowledged where there were differences, and went out of his way to ensure that just because a view was different to his, did not make it any less valid. After a time, a consensus emerged through dialogue, and it was clear that the group would work its tail off individually and collectively to ensure implementation, in contrast the previous day, when any implementation would only have been achieved as a result of aggressive follow up by the CEO.
Real leaders often lead from the rear, the best are usually not the ones who provide what they see as the solution, but those who facilitate arrival at a solution.
