Do You Encourage Pushback?

Another perspective on courageous leadership

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. — Winston Churchill

Many leaders feel pressure to have all the answers. That’s a limiting false belief.

By encouraging constructive dissent and healthy debate, you reinforce the strength of the team and demonstrate that in the tension of diverse opinions lies a better answer.

In her book Radical Candor, author Kim Scott tells a story about a shouting match between Google’s co-founder Larry Page and one of his product senior product leaders.

During the meeting, the two men held completely different opinions regarding the way forward for a new product idea.

The product leader, generally a very pleasant and easygoing person — disagreed, heatedly with Page. When Page wouldn’t change his opinion, the subordinate started yelling at his boss.

The product leader argued that if they pursued Page’s idea, it would overwhelm him with “so much crap”, that he’d never keep up.

What shocked Ms. Scott even more, was the big grin that appeared on Larry Page’s face moments later.

Not only did Page permit his employee to challenge him, in Scott’s opinion, he “relished” it.

Larry Page wanted a culture at Google where everyone felt comfortable criticizing authority — especially his.

To him, it wasn’t about decorum or having civil conversations. It was about being free to have honest, productive engagements that produced the best solutions.

Constructive discourse is a key ingredient to high performance and innovation.

Courageous leaders understand this and work to create environments where this occurs naturally.