[Learning Bytes] Article review: “Everyone lies to leaders”
Published 1 day ago • 2 min read
This week I received two separate links to articles I thought were outstanding. I want to share one of these with you about how you can avoid a very common leadership trap.
In his article, “Everyone lies to leaders,” Jade Rubrick has captured what happens to all leaders promoted to a senior level. People start lying to them, or at least concealing anything “bad.” And their ideas suddenly all become praiseworthy. What gives?
He explores the reasoning for this just as well as I could, and offers tips and advice from his personal experience as a VP of Engineering. Read Jade’s full article here.
Image by Marija Zaric on Unsplash
Some of Jade's key tips to prevent this senior leader tunnel vision include:
Ask for the best argument against your idea. There is a way to use open-ended questions (you know me, always promoting this) to encourage people to explore, innovate, and challenge. But you have to create the climate for it by asking.
Propose things that are dumb. Set out a default idea as a “What if?” that is dumb. Then have people critique and build on it to get everyone’s thinking into a solution that is actually good.
Build relationships throughout your organization. Expose yourself to wide viewpoints outside your silo. This gets you more perspectives and helps you gain and share support for big initiatives later.
Consistently show appreciation for feedback and opposing points of view. If you want feedback and diverse viewpoints, you have to appreciate them. Even–or especially–when what you hear disagrees with your ideas. Reward conflicting ideas and well-intended critique.
Market leaders as servants. Remind people that leaders are there to support the people who do the work, and not to take credit. Don’t take this too far, but do learn what makes teams high performing and do those things. (See the Rocket Model, elsewhere.)
Use a coach. A skilled executive coach can help you “get past yourself” and see the world more accurately. This person is in your corner to help you keep learning. Don’t risk stagnation by thinking you’ve already arrived.
Release your plans like you release software: incrementally and to get feedback. The lesson here is to iterate and adjust. Once people realize that you are not infallible and that you are going to make intelligent updates, they appreciate this approach.
One catch is that if you do all these things simply as “techniques,” you are not likely to avoid the trap. People can smell insincerity.
A successful leader has true empathy for self and others.
Without that empathy (which often fades at senior levels as contact with “the real world” diminishes), the leader is more and more in their head and not truly connected to what matters.
I recommend Positive Intelligence® mental fitness training to get and stay sharp in your Sage brain, defeating the Saboteurs each time they pop up.
Check out Jade’s article. Let me know what you think. And stay connected with what matters.
