Why Great Leaders Always Stay Sharp (and How You Can Too)
The further back you go, the more you discover the moments that sparked your most transformative learning experiences.
I’m going to take you back to one of the earliest examples I can give you on leadership, when I was in kindergarten. I call this the example of the pencil sharpener. Can you recall some of your own earliest experiences? How far back can you go in your mind? The farther you reach into your past, the more likely you are to find moments that sparked significant learning experiences.
To put it differently, as you reflect on your memories, you’ll notice that the things you remember from those early days are the very lessons that helped shape and transform you. Use these memories to reignite the fundamentals, the basics, the principles, the values—the things that matter most to you.
The leader prompts you to sharpen your gift, skill, and talent.
My teacher’s name was Miss Stroop. It’s interesting that I still remember her name from so long ago. She was probably the first white American with whom I built a relationship. This relationship is important because of it and our daily interactions, I remember her to this day.
The leadership principle I learned from Miss Stroop is that leadership is like sharpening a pencil. In our kindergarten class, we used number two pencils— the big, fat ones, at that. I distinctly remember that when our pencils became dull, we had to ask for permission to sharpen them. That was a significant moment for us in kindergarten.
I would watch student after student go over to the wall where the manual (analog) pencil sharpener was located. They would insert their pencils into the opening that matched the size and start turning the crank. As they cranked it, the sharpener would strip away the wood, creating shavings that would fall into the container. Eventually, the sharpener would need to be emptied, and interestingly, everyone in the class was eager to sharpen their pencils and didn’t mind emptying the shavings.
You must do your own sharpening.
This leads me to an important question: how often have you been using a dull pencil, metaphorically speaking? How long have you been using your gifts, your skills, your talents that have become dull? Let me put it another way: are you a master chef whose skills have become dull? Are you a computer programmer who hasn’t taken the time to sharpen your abilities to become better? You could be the best leader possible, yet you’re not honing your talents and gifts.
Could it be that greatness lies just beneath the surface, waiting to be released if only you sharpen your skills? I want to encourage you to always consider that your skills, much like that big fat pencil, need sharpening. Your gifts need sharpening. Your talents need refining. Everything you do should be sharpened so that it can be utilized to its fullest and best potential.
As a student, you can think of yourself as a pencil being sharpened by a leader, who is like the pencil sharpener. To be sharpened, you must willingly place yourself into this position (place yourself inside the little pencil hole), allowing the leader (the pencil sharpener) to help you grow, sharpen you. If you don’t take that step, you won’t benefit from the sharpening process.
Reflecting on my time at the University of Alabama, one of my biggest regrets is that, while I was a great student, I was not a great learner. That might surprise some people, but it’s true. My focus was more on completing my degree, achieving good grades, and being the best student I could be, rather than truly learning. If I could go back, I would strive to be the best learner instead. Although I genuinely enjoyed some classes where I learned valuable things, most of my effort, like the majority (normal), was just about making the grade.
As a leader, I must take on this idea of the pencil sharpener—I must be open to allowing myself to be sharpened by others, willing to insert my pencil into the sharpener. I need to be willing to insert myself into the care of a leader to become sharper.
The process of me getting sharper inspires others to want to be sharpened.
Another important lesson from my early education is that the act of sharpening inspires others to do the same. You may not realize it, but when someone sees another person sharpening their pencil, it often encourages them to sharpen theirs as well, even if theirs is already fine. By sharpening your skills and talents, you not only improve yourself but also motivate those around you to do the same.
In this way, you become a leader—not just by applying your skills to help others, but also by setting an example. Others will notice your commitment to self-improvement, which inspires them to enhance their own skills.
The end result of everything is that the class progresses. Without that pencil sharpener, I’m not sure how effective we would have been in the kindergarten classroom. Without it, we wouldn’t have been able to use the pencils for long. In other words, when we become dull and lack the tools to improve, we risk experiencing decline and deterioration, along with the inability to use something for its intended purpose. This illustrates the principle of the pencil sharpener.
You become a leader when others see you sharpening the gifts you’ll use to make them better.
