9/16: Leaders hear voices

I am quite fortunate to have been exposed to a quality management approach known as Six Sigma. While steeped in manufacturing philosophy and language, the underlying premise of Six Sigma is translatable to a relatively simple premise: listen to your customers and design efficient processes to deliver defect-free products and services to your customers based on their specifications and needs. The obvious result, of course, is increased customer satisfaction.

In Six Sigma parlance, there are the voices of Six Sigma—the voice of the customer and the voice of the process—and a true leader hears these voices. And the true leader hears yet another voice.

Leaders hear what people do not say. Silence is never consent, as I have often heard. Silence can be many things: tacit agreement, passive aggressiveness, or a lack of understanding. Silence should never be construed as acceptance or agreement, and certainly not passionate acceptance or agreement. People are never passionately silent, and a true leader will always delve deeper into the voice masked by silence.