Want To Improve Your Leadership? Learn Photography

Learning photography will make you a better leader.

I owned a photography business for 4 years. I was constantly refining my craft and growing my skillset. During that process, I realized being a great photographer requires a blend of hard and soft skills.

So does leadership.

Zoom in. Understand the mechanics.

You need at least a basic understanding of how a camera works to create quality photos.

The more you understand the relationship between shutter speed, ISO, and aperture the better your photos will be. This blend of knowledge creates an important foundation for confidence to grow.

The same goes for leadership.

You need a certain amount of functional knowledge to lead in a specific area. Without it, your people's trust will erode and so will your confidence.

Being comfortable learning and adapting to problems ensures a foundational level of competence.

But to take your leadership to the next level requires a sort of "X-factor".

Here is where photography offers the greatest return.

Zoom out. Observe people and situations.

There is a saying in photography: you don’t take a shot, you make a shot.

The only way to make a great shot is to slow down and observe. It takes a mixture of patience and prediction. And once you learn to see the world like this, you never go back.

Leading people has some of the same dynamics.

You can't force things to happen. You need to slow down and observe. Listen to your people. Observe the environment. Read between the lines to solve problems at their root.

Photography forces you to do this like nothing else I've experienced. In a work environment where we are always on and always connected, these types of soft skills are becoming rarer and rarer.

Learn photography. Slow down, listen, and observe. It may become your new superpower.