How Can Leaders Keep Contributions from Being Misread as Control?
Limit impulsive verbalizing and separate brainstorming from direction-setting. Make intent explicit so ideas aren’t mistaken for mandates.
Metaphor
It’s like when Elon Musk casually tweets about a cryptocurrency and the market stampedes—what was banter to him becomes billions in motion. The shared trait is how authority and visibility amplify offhand remarks into binding signals.
Leaders, like market movers, need to spell out when they’re just exploring versus when they’re actually directing, so ideas don’t turn into unintended mandates.
Works Consulted
In addition to any sources cited above, the following works informed my thinking: (1)
1.
Goldsmith M. What Got You Here Won’t Get You There [Internet]. Profile Books; 2013. Available from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/84525.What_Got_You_Here_Won_t_Get_You_There