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The recent political campaign reminded me of an important distinction of effective leadership.

A Time Magazine article criticized Barak Obama for not taking a stronger stand on some of today's issues. I thought of Senator Kerry who became known as the candidate without answers when he pointed to the complexity of the questions at hand instead of taking sides.

I know the elections are over for now, but the presidential elections are just around the corner. Before we know it, we'll be in line to cast our votes again. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, you might want to think about what kind of expectations you have of presidential candidates.

Do you expect them to have all the answers before they assume office? In other words, do you base your vote depending on which side of the issues the candidates are on? And how strongly they defend their views? And is that how you look at leaders in general?

Unfortunately, the world is full of opinionated people, but lacks reflected thinkers who seek to understand others. Maybe part of the problem is that most people are better at talking then listening. But who can blame them? Today's society is heavily biased towards the 'knowers.' I mean we are raised from young age to show and tell and are rewarded for what we know. We absorb information all day long and regurgitate it on command. Say, when did Christopher Columbus discover America? Or was it the American Indians who discovered Christopher Columbus? Never mind.

My point is that a lot of our energy and focus is spent on knowing things, even trivial information, and defending our views. Sharing what we know is so engrained in us that we do it rather unconsciously. It's as though we become little children again, over eager to prove that we have the right answer. The only problem is that in our pursuit to 'be right' we might be missing the bigger picture.

Not a big deal, unless you are in a leadership role and your thinking and decision making style affects others.

5 Harmful Effects of the 'Knower' Leadership Style

There are two kinds of leaders, the Knowers and the Learners. Knowers are typically limited by their own perspectives and cease to be effective in complex situations that require higher level inquiry and interpersonal skills. Since the Knowers want to be right, they tend to alienate others in the process, which ultimately results in under-performance.

Patrick Lencioni, in his book 'The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable' gives us a model that enables us to see at least five harmful effects of 'Knower' leaders:

1. Lack of trust. When people don't feel safe offering their opinions (or don't feel their opinions matter), they don't trust the leader. If direct reports are afraid to speak their mind, they're withholding valuable information and ideas from the top decision maker.
2. Lack of conflict. Conflict is good. Vibrant meetings with heated discussions are a sign of health (as long as there are no personal attacks, just challenges to ideas). Different people holding different positions in the company with different priorities will disagree with each other. It's inevitable. If those differences aren't expressed, team members' spirits wither and die a slow, painful death.
3. Lack of commitment. As Covery wrote in 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,' you don't get commitment without involvement. People who don't express their opinions (lack of conflict) don't feel personally involved in the decision process and as a result don't feel as committed to what they agree to do.
4. Lack of accountability. Due to the lack of commitment, tam members don't hold each other accountable for producing promised results. They simply don't care enough to deal with the hassle of calling a colleague on their poor performance.
5. Lack of attention to results. When accountability, commitment, conflict and trust are missing, team members are more focused on proving their innocence and surviving then producing great results.

The 'Learner' Leadership Style Enhances Collaboration and Creativity

The Learners, in contrast, create an environment where people feel safe to ask questions, disagree, admit to mistakes and express authentically how they feel.

Peter Senge, author of 'The firth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization' (1990, NY: Currency Doubleday), underlines the importance that leaders publicly share their values and vision (notice, not their opinions) while remaining open to the views and involvement of others. He urges managers to surrender the belief that a person must be 'in control' to be effective and to reveal uncertainties, to be ignorant, to show incompetence in order to increase the involvement and creativity of others.

Jim Collins, in this best-seller, 'Good to Great', says top leaders have a 'personal humility' characteristic of the 'learner' leadership style.

As you evaluate our leaders and choose your own approach to leadership, please consider the distinction between 'knower' and 'learner.'

And next time you go to the voting pole I urge you to look for a person's ability to engage others and create a constructive dialogue on difficult issues. S/he who can admit to not having all the answers is a leader of true integrity, who will inspire openness, commitment and collective intelligence versus division, defensiveness and fear.

All to say that whoever is willing to learn gets my vote!