The best leadership training I ever received was from an employee. It was back in the day when I owned a small computer service company and everybody on our team, including me, was under the age of 30. It was a fast, fun, and very impulsive culture that clearly reflected its leadership (and not always in a good way). Then one day, a young man suffering from my whimsical decisions decided to take some initiative.
He began to measure the effects of our efforts. What directions led to which results. What costs we were incurring in terms of employee’s time and customer satisfaction. Within a few months he politely showed me data that changed the way I did business. He showed me the impact of my decisions. And, by doing so, made me a more mindful leader.
Last week, that same employee was hired by Elon Musk to run Global Technical Services for the Tesla Corporation. I doubt Elon needs leadership training, but if he does, he just made an exceptional hire.