Managing Your Blindspots

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they are aware of what is occurring around them when, in fact, they have partial, sometimes inaccurate, and often outdated views.’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

Share Your Shame

Shame is heavy. If you have the courage to share your own shame, you are going to feel better about yourself.

Shame is why people don’t talk about their mistakes. Shame is why people don’t bring other people into their lives. Shame is why people hide their mistakes. Shame is why we keep ourselves away from the life that God has created for us.

Shame is a devil. If you do not talk about it, it is going to keep you small. It is not going to leave you alone.

Not talking about your failures, not talking about your weaknesses, not talking about what you are struggling with, not talking about what is bothering you, it is only going to get worse.

If you want to walk freely, to enjoy your life, to increase your happiness, and to bring more love into your life, to do what you are doing really well, you must be brave enough to talk about your shame.

When you talk about your shame, when you own your shame, when you don’t care about what other people are saying about you, moving forward becomes really easier to face.

The question is, ‘Do you have the courage to do what you are not good at? Do you have the courage to face your shame?