Category Archives: Diversity

Why Leaders Don’t Learn from Success

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You remember the cliche, success breeds success? Some recent research on decision making suggests that success can, in fact, breed failure by hindering learning at the individual and organizational level. Learning from success can present major challenges.  Gino and Pisano (April 2011) outline 3 interrelated traps: 

1) Fundamental attribution error: When we succeed, we think it was because of us. When we fail, we think random or external events conspired to derail us.

2) Overconfidence bias: Success breeds self-assurance and reinforces that we are on the right track. This overconfidence bias can lead to institutional arrogance and a “Not Invented Here” mentality.

3) Failure to ask why: This challenge involves the tendency to fail to systematically investigate causes of good performance: Leaders don’t ask the tough questions that can help them learn.

It’s always good when you read an article where there is a problem and a path forward toward a solution.  In this case, Gino and Pisano suggest five tactics  leaders can use to avoid these traps:

1) Celebrate but analyze your success: When a project is successful, leaders should lead investigation on reasons behind the success with the same rigor and scrutiny applied to failures.

2) Institute systematic reviews (After Action Reviews): Reviews should ask these questions: What did we set out to do? What actually happened? Why did it happen? What are we going to do next time? What are the top 5 things we would do again and the top 5 things we would not do again. The key is to ensure the same rigor for both failed and successful projects.

3) Use the right time horizons to gauge success or failure: By understanding the correct time horizons, you can prevent yourself from being fooled by randomness.

4) Replication is not learning: Six Sigma and TQM are great for determining root causes. Add to that by reviewing factors that are under your control as well as those that are affected by external events.

5) Experiment: Experimentation is a way to test assumptions and theories on what is needed to achieve high levels of performance. The right question for leaders is not “What is going well?” but “What experiments are we running?”

Secrets of Success: Dr. Catherine Gordon

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This is a segment in a series of profiles of values based leaders in all walks of life.  It is part of GEN Shelton’s book, Secrets of Success.  This post focuses on Dr. Catherine Gordon, a highly acclaimed medical researcher in the Boston area.

  • Over the years I’ve realized what an important role leadership plays in my work.  I was blessed by some wonderful mentors and, for young scientists, a mentor is so important.  So part of my mission is to coach young scientists the way I’ve been coached, taking the time to give them both positive and negative feedback.  As academic doctors, we are so busy in the hospital; there’s always a sick patient, a class to teach, a grant due.  There’s no room for error with patients, so it’s easy to forget to take the time to give your team positive feedback.  But I try to remember to mix the positive feedback with the negative, that good leaders will always take the time to discuss what’s going well and why. 

5 Key Thoughts and Principles of Leadership (Part 5 of 5)

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This is the last in the series of key thoughts and principles of leadership from an interview with a CEO.  You can find the previous key thoughts and principles below:

Part 1: Know Who You Are     Part 2: Be a Listener/Listen Broadly

Part 3: Courage and Attitude   Part 4: What is your Philosophy of Leadership

5-COMMUNICATION-What do you believe in and how can you communicate that most effectively?  You say more by saying less. Be authentic and genuine. We all can learn a lot and do a better job with this.  Style never displaces substance.  you have to avoid the situation where your team says…”Pass me the hemlock please”.  You have to work on your communication skills all the time-you always can improve.  You deploy the right style with the right audience , then tailor the message-length, style, substance.

Are leaders and great communicators born or made? I get this question a lot.  I believe that lots of leadership skills that can be learned. Even if you are not wired that way-you can get over that.

Two questions you need to ask yourself:

1-Before you say anything that is emotionally charged, ask yourself “Is what I am about to say necessary?” I have to ask you…If you sit in meetings, how much commentary would not pass that test?    Ask yourself, “Will what I am about to say advance the discussion, add a new dimension that matters and is relevant and important OR is what I have to say a regurgitation of what others have said?”   If what you want to say needs to be backed up, it is necessary. But if it is argumentative for sake of disagreeing, you don’t do it. This works in families as well.

2-Is what I am about to say, kind?  I mean this in an exploratory and inquiry based way, not sugar and spice.  How you say things is more important than what you are going to say.  Will you say it in the right way and will it be constructive or destructive?  How many times have we seen a relevant point delivered in the wrong way?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five Key Thoughts and Principles of a Leader (Part 2 of 5)

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I shared the background of these thoughts in on the 5/10/13 post. Here is the second key thought of a leader.

2.BE A LISTENER/LISTEN BROADLY:     There is a difference between hearing and listening. People size you up.  Be a good broad listener. You can do this by listening to people who have a radically different point of view.  The key is not to necessarily agree with them, but to understand what is important to them and what they value.  There will come a time when you will need to work with them on something that is important to you.  Understanding what is important to you helps you frame the discussion. You don’t have to agree with what they say, but listen broadly.

LISTEN DEEPLY: When people come to you or bring you something for your attention or you ask for information, listen deeply.  Take the two words-“listen” and “silent”.  I’m not sure there is a coincidence that both of them have the exact same letters. Speak little and do much.  It is your job to create a safe haven for them to share what is on their heart as well as what is on their mind.You want to invite (not pull) their concerns, thoughts and feelings.

I’ve learned that the bigger the title, the less people will tell you.  It’s not that people are lying to you but everybody has a nuance to the story.  You get the truth but not the whole truth. You have to find what is not being said.  Listening for what is not said, looking at body language. Hear what is not said, pick up on it and we ultimately get to the crux of the matter. That’s why the more important the conversation, the more important it is to look at the person. You learn more on the nonverbal communication by meeting face to face.  The more detached the communication, such as instant messaging or texting, the less you get of the story. Think of it as a continuum. The more important the conversation, the more personal it needs to be.

Practice muzzle spasm- If you have to do most of the talking, it’s bad, they have to search for the nugget.  Iv’e been told “we need you to speak up quicker and say more.”  I get it. I know that this can drive people crazy.  But you need to know that I try to listen first then give my input. I don’t want to stifle the conversation or perspectives from others.

 

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How We Make (un)wise decisions?

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Last month, during an executive education session, we were discussing how very smart people can make decisions that, upon the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, seem boneheaded.  In fact, when we analyzed a situation, the most common response was “What were they thinking?”  We humans pride ourselves on being good thinkers and decision makers.  We talk about how we go through a rational decision making process, and indeed, the heart of any executive’s role is that of making good decisions.

In many cases, we think we go through a very rational decision making process: We look at the problem, we gather facts about the problem, we look at alternatives and options,we weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each option, and we make a decision based upon the “best” option available.  In fact, the more experienced we become, we then   think through a mental chess match of the impact of that decision in multiple layers of the organization, our partners, our competitors, and then create a second level of rational decisions based upon what we anticipate are the most likely decisions of the other party.  Rodin’s sculpture, “The Thinker”,  and Descartes, “I think, therefore, I am”  are shining examples of this rational decision making model.  This is the basis of the scientific method. Milton Friedman won a Nobel Prize for his model of rational decision making and the concept of “satisficing” decisions.   The most common of decisions focuses upon receiving a recommendation or series of recommendations from another member of the team.  Usually, the decision is whether to accept a recommendation, reject or modify the recommendation, and then either make the decision or refer it to a more senior level.

Yet recent research in behavioral economics, led by recent Nobel Prize winner, Daniel Kahneman, outlines a series of biases that can distort the thinking and reasoning of even the most senior of executives.  In an article in HBR, he and his colleagues, Lovallo, and Sibony, outline a series of tactics that you and I can use to reduce our biases and make better decisions.

Kahneman, et. al,  note that we have two types of thinking-intuitive and reflective. Intuitive thinking is almost like autopilot-we walk, drive, brush our teeth, prepare coffee, and engage in everyday conversation.  Intuitive thinking is strongly linked with our senses and creates context for different words, phrases, and helps us make quick links between seemingly unrelated ideas.  For those who have “seen this before”, this intuitive thinking can help rapidly make sense of new situations.

Yet, in the background is reflective thinking, ready to engage when we do something new, important, or takes a great deal of concentration.  Unfortunately, unless we intentionally engage reflective thinking, we can be led astray.  If we don’t have experience with a new situation and rely on our gut or hunch, we may get entirely different (and boneheaded) solutions.  For example, take the word, “shot”. For a basketball fan, especially here in ACC country, shot means something completely different than for someone who is an Olympic track and field fan.

Kahneman and his colleagues note that simply knowing that you and I have these two types of thinking and their accompanying biases is necessary, yet insufficient.  In future posts, I’ll outline some of their major points and some ways to dramatically improve your team’s decision-making processes and results.

Source: “Before You Make That Big Decision”, Kahneman, Lovallo, and Sibony, Harvard Business Review, June 2011.