How well do you understand your flaws?

Welcome to the new Strategic Leader newsletter! In each edition, I give you a perspective, resource (e.g. a tool, framework), and recommendation (for a book, article, talk, service, or person).

If we haven’t met yet, thank you for joining me! You can learn a little more about me?here?and by watching this short?video.

Perspective

What would it take for you to create a crisis, even if it was avoidable?

Surely no-one would do this on purpose, would they?

But some leaders do. They want to show how they can transform a team or organisation in crisis into a success story, even if the status quo wasn’t that bad in the first place. A former colleague tried to do this, but he did it so often that he suffered from the “crying wolf” syndrome; nobody believed him.

Others create a crisis unintentionally. They’re stubborn, sticking to their guns even in the face of compelling contrarian views or evidence. Or they’re overly confident in their predictions and impulsive only to find that events don’t turn out in the way they envisaged.

There are plenty of recent examples. The first mini budget of the Prime Minister and Finance Minister (Chancellor) in the UK led to a run on the pound, and spiralling mortgage costs as the investors lost confidence. Time will tell to see how long they survive. In the corporate sector we’ve seen record levels of?turnover?of CEOs, who have failed to live up expectations. Alex Mashinsky, CEO of Celsius Network, resigned following bankruptcy, whilst Markus Braun, the former chief executive of Wirecard, faces a trail for alleged fraud.?

I'm all for playing to our strengths, but these events are stark reminders of our flaws and limitations.?

How aware are you of yours?

To avoid you creating an unintentional crisis, take these steps:

• Remember a big moment?when you know when you were at your worst. What was it? What did you do and say, and what was the impact?
• Repeat this exercise, this time asking three people you trust, i.e., “when have you seen me at my worst?”
• Pick three leaders?(e.g., that you’ve worked for, know, or read about) who have created crises that you think were unfortunate and avoidable. What happened? What caused the difficulties? What should they have done differently. Identify aspects of their behaviours that you are like your own.
• Identify behaviours and tendencies?that could put you in difficulty – e.g., insecurity, over-confidence, impulsiveness, bias.
• Investigate the causes, focusing on the situations (e.g., high profile decision) and triggers (e.g., impatience, stress).
• Put in place mitigants?e.g., slowing down, asking more questions (before deciding), assembling a team of people with different expertise, unafraid to challenge you. Check out my HBR?article?– written with Ron Carucci – for strategies you can use.
• Invite people you trust to help.?The people you asked for feedback would be a good start. Ask them?to call you out when you’re acting unreasonably or out of character.

Amy Gallo,?author of?Getting Along, told me that if you’re dealing with a difficult leader focus on your own mindset and actions, rather than trying to “fix” them:

“The idea that we could somehow reach into someone's brain fiddle around with the wiring and be like, poof, you're now not a difficult colleague is not possible. A lot of it is about changing the way you interact, so that you feel better about your interactions with that person”.

You can listen to our conversation?here.

Over to you. Take a hard look at yourself. It's brave to ask others what they think of you at your worst. But better to figure it out now than be the catalyst of a crisis.

Resource

A future guest on?Lancefield on the Line, Prof. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic has developed a?diagnostic?to help you judge what kind of questioner you are. Questions are great ways to check your thinking (if you’re the decision-maker) or challenge the basis for decisions (if you’re a colleague). Published in the New Yorker it puts you in some real-life situations.

Are you a: polite inquirer; passionate instigator; imaginative wonderer; data-driven explorer?

In Adam Grant’s?Think Again?book he argues that “learning to question your opinions and open other people’s minds, which can position you for excellence at work and wisdom in life”. Take his?quiz?to figure out which personality type you are, identifying your approach to opening other people’s minds – and your own.

Recommendation

Those of you who follow me on?LinkedIn?will have seen that I’ve been rekindling my interest in classical music, calling out some inspirational people I’ve learned a lot from – the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, the cellist Natalie Clein OBE, and the conductor Sir Mark Elder CH CBE so far.

I vividly remember watching the conductor Benjamin Zander when I attended a Women in Business Conference with my wife who worked at Deutsche Bank, the sponsor, at the time. His energy was infectious, as was his belief in possibility – what we’re capable of if we focus our energies in the right places (avoiding self-harm and crises along the way). You can get a sense of his work and personality in this TED talk?here

One last thing

Inspired by a recent post by my good friend and collaborator?Dorie Clark?I’ve been taking a long view on topics, issues, and ideas I should be developing, whether for my client work, articles, speeches, or online courses. I’d love to get your advice on what you think is important and what you think I should invest more time in figuring out.

If you can spare three minutes please answer this short?questionnaire.

The person who provides the best answer gets a free 30-minute session on any topic you like – an “Ask David” session – in return. You’re under no obligation to take the session, but it’s my offer to you.

Wishing you well, and thanks for subscribing,

David.

Thank you for reading this edition of the Strategic Leader newsletter. I hope you found it insightful and useful. Here are some ways to access further perspectives, tips, and resources:

★?Follow me on?LinkedIn?to join the conversation on my posts.?

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★?Take my Extraordinary Essentials?test?to assess how you stack up against six characteristics of strategic leaders.

★?Reach out to me directly at david@davidlancefield.com.