From Driven to Discerning: The Leadership Pivot No One Talks About

Jul 17

There are many different kinds of leaders in this world. Each one has their own way of leading and managing people, businesses, and operations. However, for a very long time, the driven mindset was seen among some of the top leaders. Now, we see a pivot in leadership style that is gradually changing, yet often goes unreported. This would be the shift from purely driven to being more discerning, where leaders put more thought and insight into the decisions they make. In this article, we’ll explore this pivot and take a look at how it changes certain things that could offer long-term benefits.

Table of Contents

Key Characteristics of Driven vs. Discerning Leaders
Focus
Decision-Making Process
Interaction with Teams and Employees
Problem-Solving
Measuring Success
Conclusion
References

Key Characteristics of Driven vs. Discerning Leaders

When it comes to understanding the difference between driven and discerning leaders, weighing some key characteristics can be a good starting point. This would lay a foundation and help a person get a better idea of how these two leadership styles or techniques tend to vary.

This section takes a closer look at a couple of leadership aspects and how they tend to differ between these two types of leaders.

Focus

The focus of a leader tells a lot about how they approach their role in managing a business, teams, departments, and other elements. A driven leader tends to focus on ensuring there are goals that need to be met and aims to achieve them in as little time as possible. They have metrics in place, and this is what their focus is all about meeting the metrics and achieving the goals.

A discerning leader would also focus on goals and have metrics in place, but they tend to take a bit longer to make decisions. This is because they take several things into consideration about their decisions, focusing on a smart way of making choices. They consider the long-term impact of decisions that are made to achieve goals and whether they are sustainable.

Decision-Making Process

Leaders have to make a lot of decisions in their roles. This could involve setting out a new product, recalling or discontinuing an existing product, expanding a department, opening a new location, and more. Being able to make the right decisions can have a significant impact on a business and its people.

Driven leaders tend to make their decisions quickly. They use the data that is available to them right now and consider the immediate needs of employees, departments, or the business itself.

Discerning leaders use their initiative, take ethical considerations into account, and focus on having diverse perspectives to ensure the decisions they make can have both short and long-term benefits for the business.

Interaction with Teams and Employees

Leaders need to interact with those who work for them. The way they interact with employees can have a large impact on aspects like performance and productivity internally. This is why it is important to also understand how this aspect differs between a driven and a discerning leader.

A driven leader is very direct when it comes to communicating with the team. They focus on performance and executing specific steps in order to reach the goals of the company.

A discerning leader, on the other hand, is still direct but focuses more on creating a collaborative environment. Where a driven leader will often be the only one to talk during meetings, a discerning leader is usually open to communication and input from team members. This helps to also create an empowering environment, where people feel not only like they belong but that they are heard as well. Employees who feel like they are heard may bring creative ideas or new perspectives to the table. This can have lasting benefits for the business.

Problem-Solving

Another key area where we can see differences in these leadership styles is in how they solve problems. A direct leader will generally focus on solving a problem as quickly as possible. They spend as little time as possible to find the problem and identify the cause, then begin implementing a solution right away.

Discerning leaders generally take the time needed to get a deeper understanding of the problem at hand. This can give them more insight into why and how it happened, what caused it, and it gives them a chance to get to the root. This can be a much more efficient way of solving problems in a corporate environment. While direct leaders will still focus on identifying a case, they usually don’t spend enough time to really get to the deeper root that has become the driving force behind these issues.

Measuring Success

Success is one of those words that can have different meanings to people. This also applies to leaders. The way direct and discerning leaders define success is usually not the same and is also an important factor to keep in mind as we take a look at this pivot that’s happening.

For a direct leader, success is usually measured by viewing factors like sales. The more sales, the greater the success. There’s a fixed set of criteria they use, and they do not look at any other elements of the business.

Things are quite different for discerning leaders, as they generally take a lot more indicators into account in order to determine the rate of success within the business they lead. They will usually consider factors like profits and sales, but also look at the well-being of their teams. They consider the value that the performance of the business has been able to bring stakeholders and also keep in mind other elements that affect the company in general.

This means profit is still important to the discerning leader, but it’s not the only thing that matters when they want to measure how successful the business is under their leadership.

Conclusion

While leadership styles can vary, many leaders are seen as driven, focusing on financial growth and a relentless approach. However, we’re seeing a pivot or shift where many leaders adopt a more discerning approach, which can offer benefits for them, their employees, and the business as a whole.