I had the opportunity recently to attend a leadership forum. The focus of the forum was to introduce the group to the candidates for public office. There was a huge difference between many of them. What I took away from the session was that if I ever have the opportunity to present to a group or become a candidate for office I want to come across as both a listener and a thinker. The candidates that connected with the audience presented themselves as sincere listeners. The expression on their face and body language showed they were paying attention. While being a sincere listener, at the same time I would want to have ideas and solutions to complex issues. That is not to say that I would want to oversimplify the issue. By stating that we must only do this one thing to solve a problem, sounds very surface or flippant. Having just a sensitivity to an issue, or saying we need to do something, with no real content on the other side of the ‘something’ sounds very shallow as well. The candidates with single solutions to complex issues, or sensitivity to seemingly everything, gave the impression they lacked depth and were pursuing the title, not being motivated to really make an impact. As I write these comments, this is probably the way I should present myself now when being faced with issues inside the business. Why couldn’t I try to listen to my staff as they bring me concerns, respect the complexity of an issue, and give multiple suggested solutions or pathways?