I stayed up too late last night reading (and then thinking about) Seth Godin’s Tribes. Lots of thought-provoking vignettes about groups and leadership, and the past hierarchies imposed on information that the internet has effectively blown up.
Godin provides an example of Ronald Reagan’s “secret” to leadership: listening.
The secret, Reagan’s secret, is to listen, to value what you hear, and then to make a decision even if it contradicts the very people you are listening to. Reagan impressed his advisers, his adversaries, and his voters by actively listening. People want to be sure you heard what they said– they’re less focused on whether or not you do what they said.
As we talk to brands listening to opinion online, we hear concerns about listening to the negative opinion, and then needing to react to every negative voice. I’m with Tribes on this one: the value of a brand leader’s listening is not only the knowledge you gain to fix every problem — it’s also the the cultivation relationships to make your constituents feel heard.
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