Leadership Lessons Volume 2

Making decisions in meetings is a good thing, but sometimes, making the right decision, for the right reasons, at the right time, can be difficult if the people in the meeting are aware of things that are undiscussable. Surfacing undiscussables is critical if an organisation and its people are going to be able to realise their individual and collective potential. - Explored in the chapter: illuminating the Blind-Spot

There are usually two ways to deal with problems. One way is to do something that will make the problem go away. The other way is to do something that will ensure that the problem goes away and never returns. The first one, the quick-fix, in most cases is easy, but over time, the problem does rear its ugly head again. And even worse, a quick-fix solution often leads to an unintended addictive side-effect that will prevent you from ever coming up with a fundamental solution. - Explored in the chapter: Just Another Choice

It shouldn’t be a surprise that when things get tough in business, regardless of what pronouncements management has made about how important their people are, the first thing that seems to be cut is learning and skill improvement. But whilst these areas might be easy targets to cut to save money, the impact these cuts can have on organisational commitment can be devastating. Losing commitment happens when trust ebbs away, and when commitment follows, the ability of management to make good decisions won’t even matter. - Explored in the chapter: What Did They Think Would Happen?

It is pretty easy to get excited about a new business opportunity. What we hear sounds good, and we like that. Sure, we have other things on our plate right now, but this sounds pretty great and we need to move on it as soon as possible. We start to reshuffle our priorities, we pause long-standing initiatives, and we disregard anything other than the news that supports this new opportunity. And then things start to slow down and delays begin to dampen our excitement. How can we avoid this from happening? - Explored in the chapter: The Cart and the Horse

This happens all the time. Just read the business media. We live in a world of denial. Customer that have complaints are just whingers; employees that do not hit performance targets are incompetent; and business commentators and analysts just don’t understand. The easiest path to explain away less-than-great results is to deny any responsibility for them, or simply deny that they even exist. That is one option. The other option is to listen, and then take action so the results you see are the results you want. - Explored in the chapter: Not the River in Egypt