5 Leadership Lessons from a Fool

Yes, you read that headline right. A guy breaks into an escape room (the idea of an escape room is to, you know, ESCAPE!) and can’t find his way out, so he called 911 to rescue him. As leaders, we should always look for lessons in the things we read. Here are some of mine:

1. Avoid "self-inflicted" wounds.

If you had a team of detectives scour your past, I bet they would find some things that would be a bit embarrassing. None of us model leadership perfection, but we need to work hard at not being foolish!

2. Think about the headlines.

Every leader would do well to think about how their present actions, if exposed, would look as they spread like fire through social media.

3. Have an exit strategy.

When moving forward with a new initiative, always have an exit strategy in case your plan isn’t as good as you first thought.

4. Work with others, not alone.

Escape rooms are designed to be worked out as a team.  Since people, more often than not, perform better and make better decisions working together in teams rather than alone, be smart and humble and ask for help from others.

5. Making a stupid mistake doesn’t have to define you.

There’s a big difference between a pattern of stupidity and one mistake. If you make a lot of foolish decisions, you are going to be branded by them. All of us will eventually make some mistakes, in any number of contexts. Rather than being defeated by them, we need to learn from them, forgive ourselves, and move on.

A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. -Proverbs 27:12

Jay Desko is the CEO of The Center Consulting Group and brings experience in the areas of organizational assessment, leadership coaching, decision-making, and strategic questioning. Jay’s degrees include an M.Ed. in Instructional Systems Design from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Leadership from The Union Institute.