What on earth am I looking at? I could paint this.

That thought was rattling around in my mind as I looked at the painting in front of me.  I had never been a fan of native art, and here I was in the personal gallery of a passionate collector of Abstract North American Native Art.  This man’s personal collection was worth over a quarter of a million dollars.

Every painting I looked at was something I figured I could paint.  We walked throughout many rooms in his house showcasing numerous paintings.  Every painting appeared to be a random collage of colors and shapes.  I couldn’t believe he had paid so much money for something that was so…simple, random and unattractive.

We ended up in front of an enormous painting that appeared equally as simple, random and unattractive as all the others.  This particular painting was worth $50,000 – and that was back in the late eighties.  I actually asked him if he would like another one and I would paint it for him.

All I could see was one large spiral with a series of circles and squiggles in random colors.  He told me that when he takes the collection of tour, people stand and weep when they look at this painting.

Wow, I just didn’t get it.  I needed his help to understand.

He began to tell me the story behind the painting.  This painting represented the life of a Native woman from birth to death.  Her life was an endless repetition of cooking, washing, cleaning, child bearing and child burying.  The large spiral was the path of her life until death.  The vertical squiggles were the smoke from the cooking fires.  The little drops of blue were the tears she shed for the death of yet another child.

As he explained, I began to understand the story behind the painting and my appreciation grew for this piece.  Knowing the story of the painting opened up my heart to the art and helped me to overcome my judgment of the piece as being simple, random, unattractive and something I could whip up in 30 minutes out in the garage.

The next day I was thinking about this experience and realized it had been a profound glimpse into my mindset as a leader, and as a human being.  In fact, it was an indictment of how I viewed people.  I realized the way I viewed that painting was the way I viewed people…

I judge them by what I see and don’t take time to learn their story.

I knew I was busted.  Yes, I judged people by how they appeared to me and didn’t bother taking the time to learn their story so I could understand why they are the way they are and, therefore, grow in empathy.  I knew I needed to learn to judge less and empathize more: to care enough to learn a person’s story so I could empathize and extend compassion instead of criticism and condemnation.

In order to lead well we need to refuse to make hasty judgments about people until we know the full story.  It’s easy in the fast-paced world of leadership to make inaccurate, quick judgments about people.  Good leaders take time to communicate with their people.  Good leaders engage in two-way communication: listening to understand more about who their people are and who they are not in order to lead them well to maximize their engagement in the mission of the organization.

Good leaders don’t judge hastily, but do so only after thorough communication and consideration.  Good leaders move first to empathy from which they can inspire and empower people to be and do better.

Are you quick to judge to dismiss problems or quick to listen and learn to lead well?  Hasty judgment does not lend itself to empathy, and empathy is critical for good leadership.

“Leadership is about empathy. It is about having the ability to relate to and connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives.”                 Oprah Winfrey

We cannot inspire and empower people if we are quick to judge them.

People are like paintings – there is always a story behind the art worthy of our appreciation.