The Winning Formula of Nate Silver

Obviously, there were many winners and losers in last week's election;  one of the winningest, however, wasn't even a candidate.   It was Nate Silver of the New York Times 538 blog.  Mr. Silver gained fame when in the 2008 presidential election he called nearly every electoral state correctly.  In 2012, he outdid himself and called every one of the 50 states correctly in the electoral race.

Here's the part I love.  In a post-election interview with NBC's Andrea Canning, she asked Mr. Silver, "When you were a kid, did you always have all of the right answers?"  To this, he replied that her assumption wasn't the case.

"I always had a lot of questions.  I think that's what smart people do."

Here is a man who, perhaps more than anybody currently in the United States, could stand on his ability to be right.  Instead of staking his claim in the "right-ness" or "correct-ness" of his work, he emphasizes the importance of asking the right questions.

As leaders, I believe there is so much we can learn from Mr. Silver's quote.  First of all, it leaves the audience with a sense of the man's humility as well as his willingness to learn.  As a follower of his blog, I am reassured by his ability to look at life with a sense of curiosity and wonder.  This allows him to approach the myriad of stats and facts he works with not just from one dimension, but from multiple viewpoints.    The ability to question life, and to perhaps question his own assumptions, makes him a stronger, better leader.  Because he is eliminating many of the chances to be blind-sided (and so many of the political prognosticators were blind-sided by the recent election because they approached it from only one viewpoint) it makes him a more reliable leader in whom we can have confidence.

So the question is, are you also that kind of leader?  This is one of the propelling ideas in my book (shameless plug for "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" on Kindle) that encourages us to confidently ask ourselves questions that make us better.  Are we smart enough to know we don't know everything?  Do we have the confidence to freely admit that we don't have all of the answers, but that we are intelligent enough to find the solutions?  And lastly, do we apply ourselves to our work so that, like Mr. Silver, in the end we present an incredible degree of accuracy in our work?

The lack of questioning, or curiosity, in leadership results in one dimensional work that is subject to failure.  The ability to engage life through learning leads to incredibly successful work.

"Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders"  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0095KPA6A