6 Ways Successful Leaders Think
Only fools plan to fail. Leaders always plan to succeed.
Working on plans is working to anticipate
and nullify reasons for failure.
But, failure happens in spite of plans. There’s more to success than hard work.
The uncomfortable truth is sincere, smart,
hardworking people fail all the time.
Success demands hard work and right thinking.
Learning from failure helps you think right.
Lessons from failure:
Alan Wurtzel, former CEO of Circuit City, spent three years exploring the rise and fall of his company. He offers twelve habits of mind – ways of thinking – as a result. Read them in his new book, “Good to Great to Gone.”
Wurtzel writes: “Habits of Mind are not situation-specific, but ways of thinking about one’s organization in relation to the world in which it exists.” He brings inward thinking together with outward thinking. One without the other is unbalanced foolishness.
Right thinking makes hard work effective.
6 Habits of Mind:
- Be Humble; Run Scared. Constantly doubt your understanding of things. Say, “I may not be right.”
- Curiosity Sustains the Cat: Answers end curiosity. Keep curiosity alive by saying, “That’s a great answer are there other options?”
- Confront the Brutal Facts: If you don’t confront the brutal facts now, they’ll confront you later.
- Boldly Follow Through: Big ideas require bold leadership and attract loyal followers.
- Mind the Culture: Create a caring and ethical culture where employees can make mistakes without fear of adverse consequences.
- Encourage Debate: Encourage and learn from dissent.
There are six more Habits of Mind listed in Wurtzel’s book, “Good to Great to Gone.” Each chapter ends with habits of mind that apply to the rise or fall of Circuit City.
I’m thankful for the conversation I had with Alan and recommend his book.
Which of these habits of mind are your favorites? Why?
What other habits of mind help leaders and organizations succeed?
Dan-
My favorite of these is that curiosity sustains the cat. When you stop asking questions you stop growing. There are always new frontiers and ideas. There are always new ways of looking at an old problem.
Keep adding fresh information and fresh perspectives to your arsenal, and keep moving forward. Something new will always shake loose.
Martina
Dean Dan,
I like the second and third suggestions- exploring answers and facing the facts. It is true that answer closes the options. So, leaders leave other options while answering. It is also true that there are some questions that have universal and definite answers. So, we should keep in mind the limitation of system, people and positions. I agree that if we avoid problems today, that will challenge tomorrow in the more severe way. Stitch in time saves nine fits here. People need to have” do it now” attitude to avoid major obstacle.
Creating culture to make mistake and learning from mistake is a great concept. Where people are penalized from mistakes do not allow creativity and innovation. So, any successful and innovative organizations encourage people to learn from mistakes. This is a also a yardstick to measure the effectiveness of leaderships in the organizations. The most important things we should keep in mind that our body has limitation but our minds do not. So, using mind to create impact to make this world better place to live in should be the top most priority of any good leaders or organizations.
Hi Dan,
I’m usually pretty positive. And I’m betting #3 “Confront the brutal facts now or they’ll confront you later” will be the least favorite for all your readers to consider.
But truthfully it is the one that I think is most important and honest. You can apply this to all areas of life. Failure doesn’t sneak up on us from out of a vacuum. There are clues.
Remember the book Who Moved My Cheese? The clues scare us so we turn away from them. We don’t want to face the brutal facts. I can think of examples from my life.
You think you can ignore the ethics of the guy at the top. It doesn’t directly impact me, but it does.
These jeans don’t fit anymore. Must have shrunk in the washer. Don’t want to analyze this so I’ll buy the next size.
Three neighbors have walked away from their homes but that probably won’t affect my home’s value.
I don’t like facing the brutal facts. Does anyone? Well, maybe Suze Orman. But my biggest setbacks have come from the times when I didn’t.
Dauna
All the quotes ar important
Great post! I especially like number 5. There is a lot of wasted time spent covering ones butt when someone is caught up in “fear” of consequence of their performance. Many problems start here, small and managable at first but become large as one tries to cover up and protect oneself. Freedom to admit that one made a mistake could go along way is alleviating this problem .
A friend of mine talks about the concept of promoting ‘intelligent failure’. One day, it will hopefully be the norm…
Another great post Dan thank you for your consistent wake up calls!
Without number one the rest will not matter or necessarily follow. Humility, reflection and number six – debate are essential for progress, respect of ideas and not fearing decisions or failur.
Be Humble; Run Scared, Mind the Culture, Encourage Debate are the most serious problems plaguing healthcare today. The culture of healthcare must change, we must stop horizontal and vertical violence in the work place and propagating old modes of management, At my former place of employment, they culture was caustic, leadership was lacking, and morale was, according to someone whom had been there for 11 years, the worst it has ever been. Wake up, healthcare management! Wake up!
I love them all, but personally find number 5 my favorite – “Create a caring and ethical culture where employees can make mistakes without fear of adverse consequences.” I will go so far as to say that we should purposefully create an environment where mistakes are welcome and even encouraged. Big results often require big risk, and that can lead to mistakes. If I want big results from my team members I need to be willing to accept the mistakes that can result. If I crucify someone for a mistake the others on my team will be less apt to take the big risks that bring big results. In fact, I wonder if we shouldn’t celebrate mistakes to some extent to encourage others to take the big risk. Any thoughts?
The “Curiosity Sustains The Cat” is AWESOME! I never looked at it that way but that is EPIC!
I like #4 – Boldly Follow Through. My husband’s favorite phrase is “be consistent and persistent and follow through to a logical conclusion.” Guess he drilled that into my head too.
Be humble:Run scared makes u to be curious because u always believe better options exist.