by Brian Hinken

Hi, my name is Brian, and I am a recovering knower. But for the grace of God, and the disciplines of organizational learning, I would have died a knower. I started knowing at an early age and was praised and rewarded for knowing more than my peers.

My knowing continued all the way through graduate school and eventually into my first few jobs. Even as my knowing continued to grow, I felt I had it under control. I was young and had the stamina to know late into the night and still work the next day. I received recognition for these exploits.

Being a knower started out as a harmless way to get noticed and applauded, but it continued as a habit that complicated my life. The pressure increased to keep providing the right answers. I sometimes took panicked action in an attempt to maintain the appearance of effectiveness. I sensed that something wasn't right, but I never recognized that being a knower was hurting me.

When I use the term "knower," I'm not referring to a person who is somehow defective or implying that what he or she knows is not important. A knower is simply someone who adopts a "knower stance." The difference between a knower and a learner, very simply, is that a learner is willing to admit, "I don't know" and be influenced.

Knowers believe that they know all they need to address the situations they are responsible for. But, at an even deeper level, knowing is so central to who they are that they sometimes act as if they do know something, even when they don't. As a consequence, knowers can easily become defensive. If they are responsible for addressing an unsatisfactory situation but don't actually have the ability to get the desired results, they will blame someone or something else, hide the evidence, ignore the situation, or deny that the situation was unsatisfactory in the first place.

Virtuous Cycles Begin Here!

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by Becky Smith

I've recently been studying leadership models, with the intent of picking the top 10 and comparing them to my two favorites, The Leadership Challenge by Posner and Kouzes and the organizational learning model and treatise on leadership by Senge in his 2006 edition of The Fifth Discipline. In the process, I stumbled upon a quirky little book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, by Seth Godin.

Godin is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, and change agent. In Tribes, Godin paraphrases the Peter Principle; his version reads, "In every organization everyone rises to the level at which they become paralyzed with fear." Fear of criticism, blame, and lack of faith are the stumbling blocks that prevent many from assuming a leadership role. Godin believes that, because of this fear, many of us are content to be followers, to push harder and harder without achieving tangible results.

His notion is that people need to break free from this constraint and embrace their roles as leaders, from wherever they sit in an organization. And the most effective way to make a difference is to find or assemble a "tribe" and lead it. According to Godin, a tribe is a group of people who are connected--to each other and to a leader
--by a shared interest.