Are you a synthesizer or an assembler?

Many leaders assemble information. Good leaders synthesize it. There is an important difference. Assembly is about packaging. Synthesis is about extracting something new.

Here is an example. Joe wants to propose a new supply chain management process for his organization. He has his team run analyses on inventory control, procurement costs, manufacturing times, and warehouse efficiency. He then takes two to three key summary slides from each team and puts them into a presentation. Joe has assembled.

Jane, on the other hand builds a story about the competitive positioning of the company. Her slides talk about the company’s strategy and her assessment of how well it is being met given the performance data that Joe’s team provided. Jane has synthesized. She’s added new meaning and new value to the information.

Both Joe and Jane have added value to the organization. I’d argue that Jane’s contribution to the organization was greater. Jane added her knowledge to improve upon the information creating something new from it. Joe repackaged the information but didn’t provide new insight. By virtue of his position in the organization, he should have a broader perspective and more information than the people who work for him. If he’s not adding that, then he really isn’t needed in the process. One of his people could just have easily assembled the key slides into a presentation.

Good leaders synthesize information to create meaning. They use their knowledge of the business to transform facts into a story. This is where a leader ads value.