How leaders recognize the limits of their ability

How can you tell when you have exceeded your own ability?

A warning sign is assuming success and ceasing to listen to people who know more than you. Leadership requires combining their advice while recognizing that experts can also be wrong.

Jack O'Neill provides a fictional example of a leader who can listen to teammates with greater specialist knowledge and still make the decision. The danger comes when a leader assumes nobody else has anything useful to contribute. Experts are not infallible, and their knowledge usually concerns a particular field. A commander must combine advice from several fields, with staff helping to make that information usable. Staff reports filled with unexplained acronyms and specialist wording obstruct that work. Plain explanations let the commander understand each contribution and bring them together.