Leadership Mindset: Keep Your Eraser Handy

When things get complex or stressful, when time feels too limited, leaders often reach for absolutes.

“We don't do that.”
“That's not an option.”
“That's outside the scope.”

“Let’s not go there.”

Sometimes those lines are necessary.

But I've watched leaders—often in moments where they feel the need to protect—draw those lines too quickly, too hard, and too permanently.

Those hard lines feel clear and decisive. They feel like safety. AND they also shut down creative thinking when they need it the most.

When a leader talks in absolutes, people hear constraint. They stop exploring.

They stay inside the lines, even when the best solution sits just outside them.

Years before flex schedules became standard, someone on my team needed to work a different schedule. The answer came back fast: core hours are 8 to 4:30. It can't be done.

I wasn't satisfied with that. When I went looking, the "rule" turned out not to be a rule at all. It was an office-level policy written by a manager who had gotten tired of too many people coming in early and leaving by 3. Rather than work it out with the team, they'd written a policy. Buried in that same document was a caveat that HR regulations provided the flexibility we needed.

No one remembered the caveat was there.

The line had been drawn so long ago, and so firmly, that nobody had questioned if it was real or drawn in pencil.

The most effective leaders I’ve seen stay precise about what matters AND flexible about how to get there. They hold direction without closing off possibility.

Before you draw a hard line, ask yourself whether it needs to be permanent.

If the answer could be “No,” draw it in pencil. Keep your eraser handy.

Leadership in Real Life. Leadership Mindset: Keep Your Eraser Handy

#Leadership #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipDevelopment #LeadershipMindset