Be More Radar, Less Lighthouse
21 May 2025 · 3 min
A short leadership-focused podcast by Ben Morton (May 21, 2025) arguing that effective leaders should be like radar—continually sensing and adapting—instead of static lighthouses that give one-way directions. Morton’s concise actionable advice (his "brain tattoo") is: ask more than tell—solicit input from team members, customers, and others to open blind spots and gain real-time insights.
Chapters
In today's episode of the Leader's Kit Bag, I want to give you a different perspective on something I have shared countless times with audiences over the past 13 years. And this is it. A leader who thinks that they need to have all of the answers all of the time is like a lighthouse trying to navigate a ship. Bring an image of a lighthouse to mind for me for a second, maybe the last one you visited or one you've seen in a picture. A lighthouse is tall, it's static, and it's designed with one sole purpose, which is to send out strong, clear signals. But the lighthouse has no idea, no concept or understanding of what's happening in the ship's engine room, on deck, or even the conditions of the ocean. The lighthouse takes a singular perspective and offers one direction only. So you see, the best leaders aren't trying to be a lighthouse. Instead, great leaders are more like a radar, or at least like a skilled navigator who is using the radar. Think about a radar now. It is constantly sending out signals and gathering feedback to help it adjust its course and direction based upon real time insights. So as leaders, we need to strive to be more radar and less lighthouse. But how do we do it? Well, I've got one simple brain tattoo. One thing you can remember to try and help you be much more of a radar or the skilled navigator using the radar. And this is it. Ask more than tell. Instead of simply giving out direction, start to ask your team, all of those people around you, customers, clients even, what do they think? When we start to ask more questions and give less direction, we get an entirely different perspective. We open up blind spots that we might not be aware of. We tune into perspectives that were previously unknown to us. So be more radar, be less lighthouse. And to do that, simply remember the brain tattoo. Ask more than tell. Hope it's been useful. As always, look after yourself, look after those. You've got the privilege and responsibility to lead. And until next time, lead on.