The following is an excerpt from my first book, Not for Sale: Finding Center in the Land of Crazy Horse:
In 2010 I lost the consistent and comfortable use of my speaking voice. This hidden blessing forced me to reassess my management approach. I am not sure I would have done so otherwise. I might well have just kept busy until the work and my roles consumed me. Up to that point, my management philosophy had been more in line with traditional expectations. I made sure I worked the longest hours, presided over all the pivotal discussions, and made all the key decisions.
After I lost my voice, talking in meetings all day was no longer possible. I had to delegate more, trust more, and share leadership more broadly.
Spasmodic dysphonia made me listen—yes, to others, but even more importantly, to myself. In a circle of irony, it took losing my speaking voice to find my soul’s voice. Getting lost is the first step to being found.
In the years that followed I began to see that my old management style was not optimal; it was just old. I began to see that there was a more powerful way to lead and manage, which involved restraint. The secret lay in doing less, not more.
The boss gets first dibs on all the power in an organization, but just because you can run every meeting doesn’t mean you should. There is a great deal of power to be tapped in creating an organization where everybody leads . . . where everybody makes decisions . . . where everybody feels like they are in charge.
Not only was this new management approach a better way to lead, it was also a better way for me to live. I stopped seeing the business as a measuring stick for who I was, and started seeing the company as a place where everyone on our team could lead, take responsibility, and express themselves.
In my experience, this is what happens when a CEO loses her or his voice:
- You listen more.
- You talk less.
- You ask more questions.
- You look at more data.
- You show more restraint.
- You let others run meetings.
- You don’t break the silence.
- You share responsibility for representing the organization.
- You pick your spots carefully.
- You trust and empower others more completely.
I have since jokingly said that all CEOs should lose their speaking voice.
