The Knowing and the Doing, Pt. II
The French have a word for it. Actually, the French have many words for many things. It’s like it’s a whole language, or something. Sorry. I’ll start again.
The French have a word for it. Savoir Faire. It means, roughly, the knowing in the doing; the ability to evaluate a situation and take the actions that the circumstances require.
Sadly, many people have the knowing, but somehow cannot seem to integrate this with the doing. One of my former students made the observation regarding one of his highly educated colleagues, “It’s like he has all theory, but no practical understanding whatsoever.” We’ve all known those people–and, if truth be told, we’ve all been those people in at least one area of our lives.
Leadership is a unique discipline. It has a variety of skills that can be mastered, but never perfected. Two leaders may evaluate the same situation in very different ways. They may try the same resolution, but their results may be different. I had a student years ago who had a gift for making dysfunctional teams functional again–why would the same group of people follow her, but not someone else?
Psychologists tell us that people learn by creating complex patterns of information interaction in their minds. Psychologists call this gestalt theory. Not that I’m taking sides in the debates on psychological theory; I just want to make the point that such patterns can be destructive when a leaders says things like, “oh, I’ve seen this before,” and then goes on to apply his or her standard solution to the problem. One’s patterns of thinkings can cause no end of trouble, since they often substitute for real critical thinking and analysis.
No matter how good you are at leading, pride in your own successes is the factor most likely to cause you to fail. Savoir Faire may, indeed, be everywhere, but we must remember that rarely is knowledge complete or certain, and rarely is our analysis accurate. The difference is simply that one who does something is way ahead of the ones who do nothing. Remember: Leaders Lead.