By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to problem solve more clearly. Reading time: 3:28.

Tim the Tool Man is troubled again. The star of the 1990’s television sitcom — Home Improvement-— wanders out into his backyard, alone. He needs help thinking through a problem. And somehow, Wilson — his next door neighbor -is always there. Wilson is heard more than seen. His face is always partially hidden by a fence or a camera angle, giving him even more credence in his auditory role as Tim’s Sounding Board.

And no wonder. Every leader needs his or her Wilson.

Every leader needs a sounding board, someONE to bounce ideas off.
SomeONE to weigh options with.
SomeOne to validate reality with.
And someONE to creatively solve problems, issues, concerns or conflicts with.

To foster those Wilsons in their lives-those sounding boards — every effective leader I know has honed their own personal thinking place away from the office where friendships evolve into sounding boards, whether from a regular tee time with a golfing partner or from a regular evening saunter in your own backyard.

How do you develop your own Wilson, your own sounding board? Try booking One friend at a time rather than Facebooking a lot of friends all the time.

Book ONE Friend Instead of Facebooking Many Friends

Booking that One friend is vital, the kind of friend developed through heart-felt listening to and learning from each other, the kind of friend that comes to know you better than you know yourself, the kind of friend that can tell Tim Taylor — a.k.a. Tim the Tool Man -that his name (Tim Taylor) is an anagram for “Morality.” Who knew? Wilson knew. After all, sounding boards like Wilson access and assess (sound) information more comprehensively and therefore help a leader better project their (sound) thinking . Continue reading “Sound Off With Your Personal Sounding Board” →