‘Blindspot: An unrecognized weakness of threat that has the potential to undermine a leader’s success.’
‘People who are smart and self-assured are often very skillful at justifying their thinking and behavior- to the point of being in denial about their weaknesses and the threats they face.’
‘Mistakes are the royal road to understanding blindspots, particularly when repeated over time and in different situations.’
‘Part of the skill in identifying and overcoming blindspots is to understand that some are the result of individual traits and others arise from situational factors.’
‘Leaders can assume they are aware of what is occurring around them when, in fact, they have partial, sometimes inaccurate, and often outdated views.’
‘There is some truth in the saying that the surest way to destroy a company is to give it ten years of unmitigated success.’
‘Leaders must strive to create a culture that promotes straight talk but also pay attention to the nuances of communication in the decision making process.’
‘The challenge is to remain focused on the decision that needs to be made while simultaneously paying attention to subtleties that can easily be lost in the heat of debate.’
‘Leaders need to listen openly before a decision is made and then become drivers of results once it is reached.’
‘One of the burdens of moving up is that the complexity of the decisions leaders face increases at the same time as their ability to reveal their vulnerabilities decreases.’
‘Successful leaders have a strong belief in their own abilities … the best and the brightest can easily come to believe that following anything other than their own convictions is foolish.’
‘The leader creates the team and the team then creates the leader– as a primary source of feedback and advice, it becomes a key influence on the leader’s thinking and behavior.’
Source:
Robert Bruce Shaw (2014). Leadership Blindspots: How Successful Leaders Identify and Overcome the Weaknesses That Matter
