So often as leaders/educators/parents, we are expected – expect ourselves – to have the right answer, right now.
A fair percentage of the time, we might. But then again, a fair percentage of the time, we might not.
I think one of the truest signs of a good leader (and that includes parents and educators) is how well they can say the following sentence to the people they’re leading:
I don’t know the right answer.
Double points if they can say, “I don’t know the right answer, but I know this is not it.”
It can be deeply unsettling to be in that position – we want to solve problems, answer questions, lead to success. But if we are honest with ourselves, we must allow for the times when we don’t know the right answer. We can pursue the answers we don’t know, and we can experiment and test our way to solutions we didn’t previously know, but only if we can admit – to ourselves and those we are leading/teaching/raising – that we don’t always know.