Good judgment

I saw a reference to this article on LinkedIn over the weekend, and got curious enough to read.?And boy, was it worth it!?When you have about 20-30 mins, read the full HBR article! I took longer to read the article, as I could recount instances from my life matching few points in the article.

Judgment - the ability to combine personal qualities with relevant knowledge and experience to form opinions and make decisions - is at the core of effective Leadership.?How do you hone your judgment to be good??Sir Andrew Likierman of London Business School has spoken to CEOs and leaders of a wide range of professions, and distilled their inputs coupled with his own research to these six basic components of good judgment:

1. Learning – Listen attentively, read critically

• Challenge: Few of us absorb information we receive.?We filter out what we don’t expect or want to hear, and this tendency does not improve with age
• To improve: Look for gaps and discrepancies in what’s said or written, especially metrics

2. Trust – seek diversity, not validity

• Challenge: Many leaders hire people who simply echo and validate them.?Ex: Lincoln’s cabinet comprised of people he respected, but did not always agree with him
• To improve: Hire people who tell you what you need to know, not what you want to hear

3. Experience – make it relevant, but not narrow

• Challenge: Luck is often the unacknowledged architect of success.?How much of experience is due to luck vs. skill is hard to distinguish.
• To improve: Introspect prior judgment calls, preferably with a neutral critic

4. Detachment – identify, and then challenge, biases

• Challenge: Biases like overconfidence and excessive optimism are common.?Subordinates prefer to remain quiet rather than disagree with the Boss
• To improve: Encourage role-plays and simulations.?When taking major decisions, ensure there is a devil’s advocate participating.

5. Options – question the solution set offered

• Challenge: Sometimes, the full range of possibilities are not presented.?Other options almost always exist, like doing nothing, delaying a decision or doing a time-bound trial.
• To improve: press for clarification on poorly presented information and challenge the presenters if you think important facts are missing

6. Delivery – factor in the feasibility of execution

• Challenge: Risks and their mitigation associated with execution are undermined.?Start-ups are routinely acquired by less-inventive, but better-organized giants.
• To improve: Match experience of people with the context.?Ex: Approval to the Suez Canal (built thru sand) builder – Ferdinand de Lesseps - by Investors to construct Panama canal (to be built thru jungle) in 1880 proved disastrous, since the context change was not given due weightage.?The Americans had to complete the canal later by a different approach.

Ambition, passion, charisma and drive are all essential leadership qualities, but good judgment is a foundational pre-requisite for effective leadership…