The Military Leader

Here’s a section from a very insightful book, which relates directly to the risk military leaders carry in being too busy to share information across echelons or worse, up and down the chain of command:

“…that’s a big reason why so many of us withhold information. It’s not that we want to keep people in the dark. It’s simply that we’re too busy. We mean well. We have good intentions. But we fail to get around to it. As a result we become bad at sharing information – whether it comes in the form of a news bulletin, or a heads-up, or instruction that teaches people how to do something that we don’t have the time to do ourselves. Over time it begins to look as if we are withholding information.

Being bad at sharing information doesn’t mean we are willfully withholding it. The two are not exactly the same. But the net result is the same in the eyes of the people around us.

How do you stop withholding information?

Simple answer: Start sharing it.”