I have always believed we learn more from failure than from success… or perhaps I am just a glutton for punishment… come on… I went to The Citadel. The key being learning as much as possible from others epic failures and making your own failures recoverable. I was reading a Samuel Bacharach article the other day on 5 Reasons Leaders Fail and he has some great points any leader should take to heart… tell me you have not done these or seen others fail greatly performing any of the items below….
Confidence becomes ego. Everyone loves a confident leader. Who isn’t won over by the leader who strides into the room, commands attention, and takes control of the situation? But when a leader has an excess of confidence, it generally means he or she also has a surfeit of ego. Ego changes the conversation so that it becomes all about the leader. Ego is the primary reason leaders fail.
Teams become groupthink. Teams are great. Teams help leaders get stuff done. But if the team or teams become single-minded in nature, and are not encouraged by the leader to engage in creative thinking, groupthink sets in. It is the leader who suffers for it. With groupthink, possible innovations are lost, and creativity stagnates.
Vision becomes obsession. All leaders need a vision. They have to have some core idea of what they are all about and what they’d like to achieve, not only personally but also for the organization. However, a determined vision can easily slip into obsession. When this happens, the leader risks alienating his or her team, customers, and business partners.
Delegation becomes chaotic. No leader can do everything, and good leaders delegate. A problem arises when the leader delegates too little, leaving people to flounder without direction, or too much, and expects them to take on too much responsibility without support or interaction from the leader.
Determination becomes inflexibility. This is a corollary to “vision becomes obsession,” but it speaks to a different level of trouble. A leader knows what has to be done, but if outside forces and events indicate that the leader is taking the wrong path, then he or she has to make corrections and adjustments. This doesn’t necessarily mean that a leader has to sacrifice goals or end intent, but it does mean that the leader has to consider different paths to getting there.
Just wanted to share…
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