Why Should Anyone Trust Your Vision?

I recently commented on a post (11/3/10) by John Kotter--Harvard Business Review Blogger: Why Should Anyone Trust Your Vision.  He brings up an interesting point about how and why leaders now need to engage their people in the decision-making process, to get their buy-in, in order to get the job (of change) done. I thought I'd share my comment here on my Blog:

John,

Thanks for bring up this issue. No doubt, getting multi-levels of the organization deeply involved in developing and debating the "vision" (and most other things for that matter) is THE way to go. I've seen it drive great results as a corporate officer and now as an executive coach. However, I would like to address another dimension of the breakdown of trust. If I assume that the same top management team who was in place during the debacle is the team in place now, it is time to "own up". Nothing much matters if they don't. When we were young, most of us were taught to "own up to our mistakes and learn from them." This simple axiom must be embraced for any leader who wants genuine credibility. So, what is the implication? The leadership team in charge during the “great decline” needs to take visible ownership for mistakes made and ask the rest of the organization to do the same. It might start with this simple statement: "We blew it. We made assumptions that were flawed and lost sight of our values. We forgot what made us great and were seduced by short term gains. Now we need to focus on the solution and ask that all of you play a role in returning our company to greatness." Now, talk is cheap. The action that follows this admission must address the right issues and involve the entire organization. I see all too often that the insecurities (egos) of top leaders prevent them from seeing reality. They forget about the power of empathy. They forget to ask, “If I were one of these employees, would I trust this leadership team?” This is simple stuff, but it separates the great leaders from everyone else. 

Be sure to read John Kotter's complete post at:  blogs.hbr.org/kotter

The Executive Challenge: Bouncing Back

The Executive Challenge: Bouncing Back

Bouncing Back

Most of us can remember a time from our childhoods when we failed. Maybe we lost in the final round of the spelling bee, forgot our lines in the school play, or cost our team the championship game. At the time, those failures felt devastating and in some ways they were. However, most of us learned early on that failure is essential to winning.

As adults, we often forget this simple yet powerful lesson. In the business world, we are trained to despise failure, and for good reason. It can cost you dearly. However, since failure is unavoidable, we must develop the fortitude to learn from it, even if it turns our stomach. Like many things in life, the idea is counter intuitive. By learning to accept failure, we actually set ourselves up to win.

The ability to fail, feel the sting, learn from the experience and bounce back is a hallmark of great leaders. Call it compulsive but great leaders analyze a failure down to its smallest components. In the search for something positive, and to alleviate the pain, they dissect the miss in search of any grain of insight that can make the glass half full.

Bouncing back and learning from mistakes is an acquired skill. Most of us aren’t born with this ability; we learn from our experience. Great leaders remind themselves of the lessons learned at the knees of their parents, grandparents, teachers, and other influential people in their lives. Most important, they remind their people of this simple truth: bouncing back is actually bouncing forward.