Should leaders listen to external advice?

The BBC has a section called CEO Secrets where the media organization speaks to business leaders about their tips and tricks for their peers.

The latest in the CEO Secrets series comes from Jamie Siminoff, founder and CEO of Ring, the connected doorbell company bought by Amazon in 2018 for over $1 billion dollars.

The main piece of advice that Siminoff had for his fellow leaders is, ironically, “don’t take advice”.

He continued: “We are all unique in this journey. When we’re creating a business it’s like a fingerprint. It is our own. It is absolutely unique to who we are.

“When we take advice, we are taking what happened to someone else with a different set of circumstances and applying it to our business. It’s never going to overlap directly.”

Siminoff argued that instead of listening to advice, leaders need to learn from other’s mistakes and read lots of books.

“Ingest all of this information, so that you can then use that to make the best decision for your unique journey for where you want to go to on your mission, on your business, on what you want to achieve”.

These comments seem to suggest that CEOs shouldn’t over-rely on mentorship and networking – the opposite of a lot of the conventional wisdom on leadership success – and instead leaders should trust their instincts based on what they’ve learnt from their own research.

UNLEASH decided to unpick Siminoff’s comments and attempt to figure out the best way to make decisions as a leader. What role should networking and mentorship play in leaders’ decision making processes?

Trusting your instinct and getting stuck in

“Practical experience is the best way for CEOs to learn. Bold risks, difficult decisions, uncomfortable situations – if you can learn from each experience then you will learn as a CEO and a leader,” SEOTesting.com’s founder Nick Swan shares with UNLEASH.

“There’s no substitute for just getting stuck in,” adds Jonny Clark, co-founder of GDPR Defender and an angel investor. This teaches leaders more lessons than just asking advice from ‘yes men’.

Swan believes that leaders mustn’t let their instinct be overruled by advice from others (but of course that doesn’t mean external guidance and networking have no role to play in business).

Hannah Nash, co-founder of jewelry brand Lucy Nash, agrees. “I think it’s important for CEOs to always remember that the final decision is there, and they should trust their instincts about all else”.

Of course, this type of approach – getting stuck in and trusting your gut – often leads to CEOs making mistakes. But, according to Tina Dingel, CEO of creator marketplace Steady, “making mistakes is an inevitable part of being at the helm of any business”; the key is learning from those mistakes not repeating them.

However, for Dingel that learning curve is “smoother” and easier if you also listen to the guidance of others and avoid repeating them.

Dingel adds: “An element of being independent and headstrong can help you make initial progress in business, but a more collaborative approach is the key to being a successful leader long term.

“If you want to get the best results, you need to make the time to listen to the people around you and leverage their experience and expertise.”

Hybrid design studio Célibataire founder and managing director Amy Ramage agrees that leaders are human, and that means they make mistakes.

The key is having the courage to admit that you don’t have all the answers and to ask for help. “Asking for help and advice creates better, stronger, more successful results” than doing the opposite and solely trusting your gut, according to Ramage.

“Ignoring your instinct [means] missing an important data point among all the data points you want to take into consideration. It’s like a piece of the puzzle is missing,” notes professional services company Ignite360 CEO Rob Volpe.

“Similarly, not seeking outside counsel or guidance is also leaving out a piece of the jigsaw puzzle. You might be able to see the bigger picture, but it won’t be complete, and you risk a misstep”.

Mentorship is key to business success

Fintech brand Zuto CEO Jim Wilkinson notes: “I agree with the concept of not taking direct advice from people in other organizations: just because something has worked in one business doesn’t necessarily mean it will work in another.

“While I trust my instincts as a CEO, I always want to be learning. Networking and looking outside your own organization are great ways to do this.”

The reason why mentors can be incredibly useful to leaders is that they act as a sense checker or a sounding board.

HR consulting firm 10Eighty director Liz Sebag-Montefiore notes that CEOs and leaders cannot stay up-to-date on everything, so relying on networks and mentorship means they don’t make decision on “missing or incomplete information” with “limited resources”.

Networking community Entrepreneurs Organization London’s mentorship chair and founder of Trustmetrics Sid Jashnari adds that “many mentors get involved in mentorship because they wish they’d had someone giving them that kind of overview when they were starting out”.

“From a mentee’s perspective, it is sometimes difficult to see their business from the outside. This is where an experienced mentor gives you the 30,000 foot view you may be missing,” notes Jashnari.

“Having someone who can give you that overview can be crucial for entrepreneurs who can get so sucked into the minutiae of keeping a business going that they forget what the big vision is. A mentor can remind them of what the wider picture.”

Montefiore continues that “a leader shouldn’t think of themselves as a puppet-master” – instead diversity of thought and new perspectives on challenges should always be welcomed.

Darryl Sparey, co-founder and managing director of Hard Numbers shares: “Hearing ideas and opinions that differ from my own is how I identify ways to improve for even greater success.

“That doesn’t mean I always listen to advice without question. But I strongly believe that to close yourself off from hearing advice as a leader is to close yourself off from the opportunity to learn and grow”, adds Sparey.

“Mentoring and networking are obviously essential for business because you don’t know what you don’t know. There are individuals out there that want to support you, and level you up to build your careers and your confidence”, notes LMF Network’s founder Sonya Barlow.

However, she adds that networking should be about listening and learning, and not about comparison, which can sidetrack leaders from making the best decision for their business.

Don’t get stuck in an echo chamber

Ultimately, CEOs that solely rely on their gut instinct are at risk of getting caught in an echo chamber.

Will Stone, associate director of Duo Consulting, tells UNLEASH: “Having a coach or mentor is a good way to work through problems pragmatically”, especially as the role of the CEO is a lonely one.

“A good CEO will build a strong internal and external network of advisers – it’s this trusted advisor network that can help them make those decisions.”

LLC.Services CEO and international law attorney Dmitriy Kondratiev continues: “A business decision needs you to consider hard evidence, advice and institution. Usually our brains are trained to avoid discomfort” so “when faced with hard decisions our brains could opt for the safe options”.

“Instincts usually rely on our previous experiences or beliefs and could be trying to help you remain safe, rather than venture into risk,” explains Kondratiev.

A major issue with CEOs and leaders relying on their instincts and getting stuck in their echo chamber is that often leads to biased decision making.

Applied’s CEO Khyati Sundaram adds that leaders “should absolutely take advice from others. Our ‘gut instinct’ is rooted in unconscious biases that we all hold. So when we rely on that to make decisions, there’s nothing stopping us from leaning into our ingrained prejudices without realizing it”.

Nick Gold, managing director of events company Speakers Corner, tells UNLEASH that mentorship and networking “helps the business leader work through their thought process or decisions with unbiased external trusted peers”.

This goes back to diversity of thought, and challenging leaders to question their instincts, “so that the business leader can work through all the scenarios to ensure they make the best decision”. Sundaram states: “Canvassing a diverse range of opinions will no doubt shine a light on creative solution and perspective that they’d otherwise overlook.”

Marketing agency Cedarwood Digital’s founder and director Amanda Walls concludes: “As a leader, developing your own path is important.

“However, learning through osmosis and taking on board the views and experiences of others is a great way to ensure that you have a really well-rounded approach.

“I’d encourage mentorship and networking to help develop and discover new skill sets” as well as perspectives – then combining that with your instincts to make your mark on the business world.

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