How Do I Lead People Older Than Me?

Hey Unfiltered Leaders,

"HOW DO I LEAD PEOPLE OLDER THAN ME?"

Answer: Respect their experience, own your decisions. Don't defer. Age doesn't make them right, but experience makes them valuable. If you ignore what they know, you're an arrogant kid. If you defer every decision to them, you're not leading. The balance is using their knowledge while owning the call. You're the leader. Not because you're smarter. Because you're responsible.

Question: When's the last time you asked them what they've seen before?

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Why: Age doesn't make them right, but experience makes them valuable. If you ignore them, you're arrogant. If you defer to them, you're not leading. Balance is using knowledge while owning the call.

Here's what young leaders do wrong they either ignore experience or worship it.

Ignore: "I don't care what you did before. This is different." That's arrogance. They've seen patterns you haven't.
Or worship: "What do you think we should do?" Then do whatever they say. That's abdication.

You're the leader. You own the decision.

The right path:
- ask for their experience.
- Listen. Learn.
- Then decide.

"Here's what I heard. Here's why I'm choosing this path." They'll respect you for listening and deciding. What they won't respect is ignoring them or being too scared to lead after they speak. They've worked for lots of leaders. They know what good looks like. Show them.

Action: Start every big decision by asking them: "What have you seen work in situations like this?"

Listen hard. Take notes. Ask questions.

Then make your call and explain your reasoning. "Here's what I heard. Here's why I'm choosing this path." They'll respect you for listening and deciding. What they won't respect is ignoring them or being too scared to lead.

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Wrapping This Up

Leaders listen. Leaders cannot know everything.
Stop trying to be captain of the enterprise (who knows everything about everything).

Leadership is not listening,
— Andy

P.S. They'll respect you for listening and deciding. What they won't respect is ignoring them or being too scared to lead.
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