This is an episode about one of the most profound leadership lessons I learned as a new leader almost 15 years ago

When I recently took command of a new assignment as an active reserve officer in the Swiss Armed Forces, I dived into an entirely new world: a new branch of service, a new function, and new people.

When you’re new in a leadership position, many people approach you and try to prime you with their views on people and organizations before you’ve landed in your role.

Let’s look back at how I handled this in my first leadership position in 2013 and then zoom back to the present.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

When I held my first leadership position at Swiss International Air Lines back in 2013, I remember how my new colleagues and my future superior badmouthed a member of my future team and said that I should fire him.

Every time I interacted with this person, his behavior confirmed what colleagues and superiors had told me. Self-fulfilling prophecy at its best. So eventually, I decided it was time to get rid of this colleague. Funny enough, now my superior (yes, the guy who primed me) chickened out. “You know, it’s still early in your career, you really cannot do that.” It took me some chutzpah and a bottle of wine to clarify my position with that employee I should have but couldn’t fire.

That episode is one of the most profound leadership lessons of my entire career. Ever since that episode back in 2013, I have done my best to make up my own opinion before judging people and organizations.

Form Your Own Opinion before Judging

Back to my new active reserve assignment in the Swiss Armed Forces. Just like in my first leadership position at Swiss International Airlines in 2013, people were telling me all sorts of things about other people before I had even met them.

There was that member on my battalion staff who apparently was an authority in his domain. Other people said this person was useless and complacent. Funny enough, the person everybody talked about was absent during my first duty period. So I decided to summon that person for our next duty period before judging — how should I have an opinion of a person I’ve never met and I’ve never talked to? Only after talking to the person, I was able to form my own opinion on the person and judge how we can best make use of this person in our battalion. I paid attention not to be primed by other people’s opinions, which was a lot easier than the episode I went through at Swiss International Airlines in 2013, because the opinions on that person varied wildly.

Forming your own opinion before judging isn’t just important for opinions on people, but also on organizations: Battalions never operate alone. The Armed Forces are a system of systems, so battalions must work together. Just like different departments in a large corporation. And just like in a large company, my new comrades in the Armed Forces ranted about other battalions and units in the Armed Forces. Before carrying the rant any further, I met with those units to find out what’s really going on. On some occasions, I noticed that we need to sharpen the way we collaborate, and on some other occasions, I found out that collaboration with the affected units was smooth and professional.

Conclusion

In the meantime, my experience from 2013 found its way into my core leadership principles. And besides just living this principle myself, I use every opportunity to tell my team that they should form their own opinions before judging people and organizations.