Leadership Skills For Life or How To Ask Better Questions

by Mitch Joel — President, Twist Image & author of “Six Pixels of Separation”

Do you truly understand the things that are being said to you at your work?

This is a true story: I am often sitting in meetings with very senior marketing professionals who are either presenting or speaking to a group, and they’re saying things that I simply do not understand. I mean, the words are in English and they form grammatically sound sentences, but the concepts are just not connecting in my mind. I’m lucky. One of my business partners at Twist Image is also someone I consider to be a personal mentor. He spent tireless years before becoming one of my business partners growing one of the largest advertising businesses in the country.

When these meetings occur (and I am flummoxed by a concept), I will often walk into his office and question my own knowledge (or lack thereof) of the marketing industry. Inevitably, I am led to better understand that these people are simply dumping a whole lot of jargon in an attempt to cover up the fact that they lack an original concept of their own. Sure, that’s a generalization, but that’s because it is generally the truth of the situation.

A sign of great leadership.

I consider Simon Sinek, bestselling author of “Start With Why,” to be one of the few people who can succinctly and powerfully explain concepts that drive brands to uncover their core reason for existing (yes, it’s as profound as it sounds). Just this week, Jonathan Fields of Good Life Project spent close to an hour in deep conversation with Sinek discussing the impact of leadership and how we should all be pushing ourselves by asking more questions and demanding that these questions be answered in a much simpler way.

If you’re looking for something to watch and be inspired by this weekend, here is some real magic…

*This post was originally published at Twist Image.

Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image — one of the largest independent digital marketing agencies in North America. His first book, “Six Pixels of Separation,” named after his successful blog and podcast, is a business and marketing bestseller. His latest book, “CTRL ALT Delete,” is out now. You can find him here: www.twistimage.com/blog.