You Don’t Need to Have the Answer
Your value as a leader isn’t measured by how much you know.
Many of the technical leaders I work with built their careers by becoming very good at what they do.
They know the equipment. The process. The numbers. The operation.
When something goes wrong, people come to them because they have the answer.
Then they become leaders.
And suddenly, the habit that helped them succeed can start getting in their way.
Leadership requires a different kind of expertise.
You don’t have to be the smartest person in every conversation. You don’t need to know every detail of every project. And saying “I don’t know” doesn’t diminish your credibility.
Sometimes the strongest thing a leader can say is:
“I don’t know. Who on our team does?”
That simple question does something important. It recognizes expertise in others, creates space for people to contribute and reinforces that solving problems is a shared responsibility.
Your job changes as you move into leadership.
Success is no longer about proving how much you know.
It’s about building a team where knowledge doesn’t have to begin and end with you.
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