b'FEATURED ARTICLEYou think youre too quiet to be a leader? Think again.Have you ever been with a leader who is understated, humble, perhaps quietly spoken and may not say a lot, but when they do speakEVERYONE listens because they are so thoughtful and insightful?T hats only one of the quietAsking wise questions:There are many more quiet leadership strengths that someDeep listening enables us to ask wisesuperpowers and yet they do not leaders use. In fact, there arequestions. Shared understanding isget much attention when assessing at least 17 quiet superpowers thatbuilt and insights are generated byleadership potential or in leadership leaders could and should developasking questions that no one else isdevelopment. And because these and access, regardless of theirasking, with curiosity and humility.skills are underrated, people with personality.Questions can be more powerfulthe potential to harness their quiet than statements as they focus thenature do not make the most of their attention and engages peopleshidden leadership strengths. Here Following are a select few of theseminds. Wise questions offer theare four questions to unlock the quiet superpowers: potential to shift our thinking andsuperpowers in ourselves and others:consciousness.Calm presence: When you are quiet, you can beConnecting/synthesising: perceived as calm even if you dontWith great listening and questions, feel calm. If you are actually relaxed,you can add value by making sense calm, quiet and present with people,of what youve heard, observed this energy is contagious and is highlyand sensed to connect the dots. valued during stressful times.Synthesising whats been shared allows groups to feel heard, make Listening/observing/sensing:sense and move forward. Connecting idea and noticing patterns are When you can pause your busy mindcritical skills for navigating through and listen, observe and sense whatcomplexity.is going on beyond what is spoken about, you notice more and adapt accordingly. Listening is an under- Deep thinking: rated trust building and inclusiveCreativity and complex problem leadership tool.solving requires some quiet time to Listening to and learning from diversethink deeply. In a world where speed perspectives gives us the bestis valued, sometimes we need to slow chance to solve the range of complexdown to go faster and avoid rework. problems we face. Otherwise, we are simply reacting, fixing symptoms and maintaining theToo many talented quieter professionals are status quo rather than sowing theoverlooked or exhausted from pretending to seed of innovation or breakthroughbe outspoken. Quietly powerful qualities are for long standing problems. incredible leadership strengths and very much needed in the world yet under-valued.12 FACE 2 FACE MAGAZINE'