Another great article Alan! One thing I've noticed is a tendency for certain types of "leaders" to ignore risk in the pursuit of results. I think results and accountability are very important, but some leaders become overly focused on the "what" without any consideration at all for the "how." These people tend to oversimplify everything and demand certainty from their teams, while refusing to engage in discussions about managing risk. The result is that their teams learn to sandbag and avoid risk, instead of taking (reasonable) risks in pursuit of innovation. This kind of results-only culture ultimately leads to churn and underperformance. By contrast, leaders who have past experience in delivering real work themselves (or at least the humility to understand what they *don't* understand) don't tend to fall into this trap. They know that things can and will go wrong, and foster a culture where risks are openly discussed. In such a culture, teams can debate the risks, spend time and money to explore risks and mitigation plans, and as a result are able to safely innovate.
It’s probably a futile hope, but I would like to see more companies stop the practice of hiring and promoting MBA-wielding fast talkers, and instead focus on developing leaders with a track record of sustainable results.
Excellent
Another great article Alan! One thing I've noticed is a tendency for certain types of "leaders" to ignore risk in the pursuit of results. I think results and accountability are very important, but some leaders become overly focused on the "what" without any consideration at all for the "how." These people tend to oversimplify everything and demand certainty from their teams, while refusing to engage in discussions about managing risk. The result is that their teams learn to sandbag and avoid risk, instead of taking (reasonable) risks in pursuit of innovation. This kind of results-only culture ultimately leads to churn and underperformance. By contrast, leaders who have past experience in delivering real work themselves (or at least the humility to understand what they *don't* understand) don't tend to fall into this trap. They know that things can and will go wrong, and foster a culture where risks are openly discussed. In such a culture, teams can debate the risks, spend time and money to explore risks and mitigation plans, and as a result are able to safely innovate.
It’s probably a futile hope, but I would like to see more companies stop the practice of hiring and promoting MBA-wielding fast talkers, and instead focus on developing leaders with a track record of sustainable results.