Changing one’s mind is not weakness in leadership

A “Damascene conversion” is a sudden and complete change in one’s beliefs. The phrase is borne out of the thrilling biblical story of the experience of Paul the Apostle. Paul (AD1 – AD67), a Roman citizen, was born among the first century Jews and had a deep knowledge of the Jewish culture. He was originally known as Saul of Tarsus having been born in the ancient city of Tarsus in present day Turkey.

“Saul”, before his conversion to “Paul”, was a staunch Pharisee who hated early-day Christians. So deep was his hatred that he infamously went on several missions to actively seek, torture and kill followers of Christ. According to biblical accounts, on one such mission to a city called Damascus, Saul experienced a mystical phenomenon; a voice spoke to him from above seeking to know why he was persecuting and killing Christ’s followers. Startled by the voice which boomed at him from a bright light in the skies, Saul fell to the ground and when he rose, he was blind. Still blind, he was led into the city by the team of merrymen who were accompanying him on his mission of hate, torture and murder where, after three days of inflection he was cured of his blindness by a disciple named Ananias. Upon this experience Saul was immediately baptised into the ancient Church of followers of Christ and made the claim that he was the “Son of God”. He went on to become one of the greatest Apostles of the ancient Church, participating in authoring 14 of the 27 books in the New Testament of the modern-day Bible.

Damascene conversions, the likes of which Saul exhibited, happen quite frequently amongst leaders. We live and operate in a very dynamic environment with sands constantly shifting beneath our feet so the need for flexibility cannot be underscored by any measure. The shifting sands give rise to two groups of forces that create this need for change:

The first group of forces are those that exist in our external environment. A key role in leadership is decision making and many times leaders make decisions with limited external information available to them. It is quite common for important information that would have a significant bearing on these decisions to become available, or even where information was available before, for circumstances bearing on that information to change once these decisions have been made, giving rise to the need for a change in the decisions. This sometimes happens even after execution on the said decisions has begun. The second group of forces exist internally. Challenges to decisions that have been made can originate internally in the organisation and cause leaders to change their minds. These sorts of challenges could arise from different points of view or even from a change in the leader’s own perspective.

In the old school of leadership many considered it a weakness for leaders to change their minds. This gave rise to several bad decisions making their way into execution arenas with disastrous outcomes for those involved. The contrast with today’s leadership teachings is quite glaring wherein it is appreciated that whether the forces for change originate externally or internally, when they arise it would be quite foolhardy for anyone to stay glued onto the original decisions that had been made. Therefore, rather than weakness, leaders that are willing to change course are today considered rather courageous and selfless.

Changing one’s mind does more than just save the leaders involved from foolhardiness though. It also goes a long way in showing leadership prowess. When a leader is willing to change his or her mind due to changing circumstances it demonstrates a leader that is not static, one that is open to embracing change. Furthermore, the pace at which that change of heart is achieved demonstrates a leader who keeps up with the times. Information is abound around us and so changing one’s mind at the pace at which new information is obtained is a sign of a quick witted leader who makes good use of information. The impact of leaders who are willing to shift position is also felt through the organisation in that it promotes diversion of thought and opinion. Team members are open to challenge their leaders with the confidence that their ideas will be taken into consideration. And finally, the mind changing leader ensures efficient resource allocation in the sense that the best ideas, rather than just his or her ideas, get funded.

The benefits of admitting that one was wrong giving rise to a change of mind not withstanding though, one must be careful not to change one’s mind too often. Doing so is a sign of a leader who does not give much thought to the decisions they make, and this perception could lead the organisation astray. The decision to change course must be carefully thought through with all options considered. Once the call for change is made though, one must be decisive about it and leave no room for doubt that he or she has done so without conviction. One must take a leaf from Saul whose Damascene conversion was so complete that it came with a name change for he was, from that point on, to be known as “Paul”.