Leadership is about listening
Great leaders are also great listeners. Just like Epictetus over 2.000 years ago, they know that we have two ears and one mouth, so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
Having realized that nobody has a monopoly on good ideas, leaders listen to markets, customers and employees. Humans never cease to learn, but that requires careful listening. The more we learn and know, the better we become at what we do. An intelligent dialogue brings out the best in the participants of a conversation, which makes the dialogue more fertile than the monologue. Only dictators would disagree. The reason being that they believe in an absolute, oppressive and at times abusive exertion of power. Unfortunately the concept of managerial dictatorship is still alive and well in many companies and institutions. More subtle than in the past, but still popular. Managerial dictators think that they know-it-all and that they therefore don't need listen to their subordinates. They consider them to be literally inferior, their only function being to obey and follow orders. Interestingly that arrogance is often coupled with fear, because deep down they know that they are not geniuses, that 'command and control' is an anachronism and that they could learn from others. But they lack the wisdom or the greatness to admit that. More and more, employees are not willing to put up with this behavior. An old proverb says 'Never tell your story to a deaf man'. Employees won't accept being controlled by managers talking in monologue. Instead they will look for and follow listening leaders.