Who Do You Serve?

I am awestruck by the opportunities and responsibilities of being a positional leader—someone who makes decisions that have a lasting impact on an organization or community. Often, the position’s influence is larger than the individual occupying it, whose own power is amplified by the formal authority given to determine direction, roles, and responsibilities, as well as the allocation of resources and evaluation of performance.

Having been entrusted with this authority in many different organizations for over five decades, I have often had a healthy fear of leading by mere intuition or personal preference. Maybe this is because I keenly observed how my father led his business when I was in my twenties. Maybe it is because, in the early formative years of my career, this authority was entrusted to me by others in more senior roles. Maybe it is due to my solemn awareness that a leader’s decisions have such a significant impact on the lives and careers of others. Whatever the reason, I continue to have a healthy reverence for the responsibility of leading well.

A great leader carries a strong sense of personal accountability for how they lead. For me, that begins with a commitment to being a deep thinker. This disciplined practice implies layers of thinking without accepting intuition as a special gift of brilliance. It often includes relying on fellow deep thinkers who have proven a combination of critical thinking and emotional intelligence skills. When practiced well, these skills help us to make fewer bad decisions and, most importantly, more great and enduring decisions.

Critical thinking can be likened to the pondering of a scientist—always testing theories with new observations, experiments, and questions. We should persistently assume there is more crucial information we have yet to discover that will shed new light, leading to the best possible decisions. Unfortunately, many leaders come to conclusions far too quickly without this practiced dedication to deeper thought. They trust too much in their intuition and fail to document and revisit their decisions six months later to judge the quality of their decisions by the outcomes, contrary to Peter Drucker’s advice in his book, The Effective Executive.?

It is equally important for positional leaders to assess like psychologists, first with deep reflection about their own emotions and biases, then with a curiosity about the complexities of others. In my case, I begin by intentionally making a conscious choice to believe in the goodwill of others. This is not pollyannaish, but logical; the overwhelming number of people we work with want to be successful and to do good work. Often, when a person has taken a more adversarial posture, it is a defense mechanism because they don’t feel understood or are insecure.?

While choosing to be deliberate and empathetic, it is also very important not to ignore poor performance. Over the years, I have made many tough decisions about a new company direction or an employee’s future role in or out of the organizations where I led. However, because of the long-term impact of these decisions on the individual and the organization, I usually make them over time and with the council of others. (Of course, there are exceptions when some egregious, unethical, illegal behavior or a big marketplace disruption requires an immediate response.)

How much time should a leader spend in deep thinking? The more I grow, the more time I feel I need for this process. This needs to be an uninterrupted time where both creativity and clear analysis walk hand in hand. As consistency is the key, I schedule the requisite time prior to the start of my normal workday. Most days, I spend an average of two hours every morning thinking about culture, strategy, personnel, and recurring problems in our organization. I exercise an intentional skepticism about my early conclusions and always ask, “What am I missing that might move me closer to a great decision?”

Carving out this much time to slow down my thought process can be challenging in a world of speed where so many decisions are made based on the demands or impatience of others. However, the insights gained from these sessions have been essential to making better decisions as a positional leader.?

Looking back over my career, I’m thankfully not aware of making many terribly bad decisions. However, I suspect there were dozens of times I made okay decisions when a great decision was within my grasp with some more effort at deep thinking. Most importantly, remembering who I serve drives me to continue the discipline of deep thinking.

Ron Price has served in leadership positions for over 50 years. He has been a student of Talent, Strategy, Culture, and Innovation. Ron is the author of five books on various aspects of leadership that are all available on Amazon.com. In this newsletter, he shares his insights into his continuing quest to grow great leaders because of his deep conviction that it is great leaders who change the world. Ron currently serves as president of TTI Success Insights LTD.?