Why Reflection is a Leadership Skill

In leadership, speed often gets celebrated. We admire quick decisions, fast pivots, and bold moves. But great leaders know there's another skill, frequently overlooked, that gives speed meaning: reflection.

Reflection isn't about slowing down just for the sake of it. It's about turning experience into growth — for yourself, your team, and the organization. Without reflection, even the most decisive action risks becoming a loop of repeated mistakes. With reflection, every action becomes a step forward.

From "What Happened" to "What We've Learned"

Most teams excel at discussing what went wrong: deadlines were missed, innovations were halted, and campaigns underperformed. But those are observations — surface facts. Reflection asks the more profound questions:

• Why did things go this way?
• What assumptions were accurate (or false)?
• What would we do differently next time?

That shift — from reporting outcomes to mining lessons — is what transforms events into growth. When a leader pauses to ask and share those questions, they create the conditions for continuous improvement.

Reflection brings clarity — the light that helps leaders see the path ahead.

Multiplying Wisdom

Leadership isn't about holding a map — it's about drawing it together with your team. When leaders share reflections openly — the wins, the stumbles, the "if I could, I would do this differently" — it permits everyone else to do the same. Wisdom stops being locked in one head. It spreads.

One real example: At Bentley Systems, their "Learn, Reflect, Apply" model involves executives producing content (such as stories and real business examples) so that participants can reflect in context and apply lessons to actual projects.

Another example: many CEOs acknowledge that carving out space for reflection is essential. A BCG article titled "The Rewards of CEO Reflection" argues that although leaders are on a relentless treadmill, those who make time to reflect — even briefly — gain clarity, see risks earlier, and spark creativity.

Reflection multiplies learning across your organization — it becomes a kind of compound interest for growth.

Reflection Builds Resilience and Trust

Here's a paradox: vulnerability can be a source of strength. When leaders reflect honestly — especially about things that didn't go as planned — they send a message: failure is not final, and honesty is safe here. That single act shifts team culture.

Instead of hiding mistakes, people bring them forward. Instead of blame, they co-solve. Over time, this builds resilience. Teams don't crumble when things go wrong — they adapt. And they trust their leaders more, not because leaders never falter, but because they show how to rise after falling.

How Real Leaders Practice Reflection

When Satya Nadella became the CEO of Microsoft in 2014, he initiated a culture shift toward a growth mindset, frequently speaking publicly about the importance of embracing mistakes and experimentation as essential to success. Under his leadership, Microsoft transitioned away from internal ranking systems and silos toward a more collaborative, open, and learning-oriented approach.

While in our country, during its turnaround phases, Garuda Indonesia (an aviation company) didn't just cut costs — it restructured operations around new assumptions about customer experience, market segments, and internal efficiencies. That restructuring required reflecting on past strategies, revising them, and communicating changes across management layers.

These are two different sectors and geographies, but they share a trait: the leaders didn't treat strategy as fixed. They paused, re-examined, and made course corrections.

Across industries, reflection helps leaders adjust course and keep moving forward.

The Reflect Stage in Our CGO-Lite Framework

At TUMBUH, we place Reflect as the closing — and reopening — loop in CGO-Lite: Explore → Vision → Test → Act → Reflect.

Reflection isn't just the endpoint. It's the launchpad for the next cycle. It's where we measure, adapt, and amplify what actually works. Without reflection, growth is linear — and often brittle. With reflection, growth is a circular and compounding process.

For leaders, reflection is both a skill and a responsibility. It's what separates teams that do more from teams that become more.

"Reflection turns experience into fuel. Without it, even bold action risks becoming a loop of repeating mistakes."

Simple Practice You Can Try

After your next project, take five minutes to write down one thing you'd do differently if you reran it. Just one. Then, share that with your team.

That small act does three things:

• Models honesty and openness
• Signals that learning matters more than being perfect
• Invites others to reflect and share

Reflection is not a luxury of leadership — it's a multiplier. Pause, look back, name the lesson, and let it fuel what comes next.