TL;DR
A pencil is more than just a writing tool. It’s a powerful analogy of how leaders should lead their organizations – with iteration, feedback, and continuous improvement.
Every year, I reset my big basket of pencils that sit on my desk. January 1 and Labor Day. Newly sharpened pencils, all ready to go. Those moments feel like New Year’s Day to me, full of fresh starts and new opportunities. (And every Sunday, I sharpen those pencils so Monday is another fresh start.)
And while that might sound like a silly office habit, it reflects something much bigger for leadership: how we think about our work and our communication.
Because the pencil isn’t really about writing – it’s about how willing you are to improve what you put out into the world.
The Pencil Is a Mindset
A pencil represents possibility. It says, “This isn’t finished yet.”
Unlike a pen, which signals finality and permanence, a pencil quietly reminds us that what we’re creating can be refined and made better. That mindset – especially for leaders – is everything.
Leaders who operate with a continuous improvement mindset don’t treat their first thought as their best thought. They don’t assume clarity magically appears on the first try, and they expect the process to involve deep thinking and editing.
This expectation shift changes how people show up across organizations. It lowers the stakes and invites participation, making more room for better ideas to emerge.
Why Drafting Beats Declaring
One of the most powerful things a leader can say is, “This is a draft. What do you think?”
Too often, we communicate like everything is written in pen. Emails get sent too fast, opinions are delivered as conclusions and so on, shutting down conversation before it even has the opportunity to begin.
Drafting shows humility and it tells people you’re still thinking and that you’re open to improvement. It creates space to test ideas and pressure-test assumptions with a variety of backgrounds, which is how you end up with communication that actually lands.
Editing Is the Real Work
Here’s something worth remembering: the shorter the pencil, the more work it’s done.
While a pristine pencil looks nice, it hasn’t done the hard work yet. But a stubby pencil is proof of effort, thought, and revision.
The same is true with communication. Clarity comes from editing, not speed. And it’s the hard part of what we do as communicators – it’s messy and takes time, but it’s where good thinking becomes clear thinking.
If you want better results, don’t rush the editing step. This is the real work.
Three Ways to Use the Pencil Mindset Today
You don’t need an actual pencil to put this mindset to work (thought I recommend always having them handy). You just need to change how you approach communication.
First, draft before you send – even if it’s an email (check out my blog post on the subject of emails here). Jot down your main points, step away, come back to edit, and then send it.
Second, say “this is a draft!” out loud. Put it in the header of the document, put it in the watermark, or say it in a meeting to frame ideas as work in progress. It invites better feedback and lowers defensive mechanisms immediately and fosters stronger collaboration.
Third, carry a literal or symbolic pencil with you. It symbols readiness and willingness to improve, and that signal matters most when you’re in charge (not to mention the cognitive benefits to actually writing things versus just typing them).
These are small shifts, but they reinforce a continuous improvement mindset every single day.
The Pencil Mindset Builds Better Teams
The best teams operate on a shared belief: our work can always be improved with others.
That belief requires humility, which is exactly what the pencil represents.
When leaders show willingness to edit themselves and be humble, teams feel safer offering their ideas and feedback is expected, not feared. Progress speeds up when nobody pretends their first attempt is perfect.
Carrying a pencil – literally or figuratively – tells people you’re ready to listen, adjust, to get better results together.
And that’s what great leadership looks like: not declaring in pen, but building something worth defining.
Listen to Lee’s podcast episode on the topic here!