Berger Leadership Blog

One sure way to become a better leader is to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you, think differently than you and challenge you. Before this can happen, we need to be the kind of leaders that understand that title alone doesn't mean we have the right answer all the time.

To set up this kind of environment, a leader must understand the value of a team and create the safe environment needed for opinions and ideas to be challenged. James Kerr, global chair of N2Growth, lists three ideas that leaders can adopt to shape these kinds of teams. His three ideas include:

1. Be deliberate in building a team that provides a variety of perspectives and is rich in diversity of thought. Look to hire and promote people who think differently than you do.
2. Call on people who are not from your inner circle to offer an opinion, and don't be afraid to skip a level when seeking fresh perspectives.
3. Don't be the leader that inadvertently tells the team that they're tone deaf. Instead, create a collaborative environment that allows all ideas to be shared and built upon.

Surrounding yourself with people who think differently than you can not only provide fresh ideas and insights, but can also allow you to see issues and potential blind spots in your organization. Most importantly, once you put a team like this together, give them the freedom and safety to speak their minds.

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