“Truth is, when it comes to dealing with the complexity and uncertainty that happens at your level, you need to expand your capacity to hold and navigate multiple right answers to find the appropriate response; understand and consider multiple points of view to build, buy in, and make well-vetted decisions; sense, respond, and iterate in order to handle the realities of implementation; manage polarities of equally valid and important factors to steer a sustainable path forward; and present yourself with humility and confidence, clarity and caring, in order to infuse your words and mannerisms with power and inspiration to get others on board.”
I added, “The bumper sticker here is: Find the right path AND make the path right.”
“How on earth do I do that?” my client responded. “I have been successful because of how hard I work to get the right answer. Making the path right sounds like a cop-out to me. It’s either right or not.”
“No wonder you are afraid of failing in this bigger role,” I said. “If you are using the same rubric of success in this new job you have as you were when you were leading technical teams, you will likely feel like a failure several times a day. What if success were not about being right?”
Download Article 1K Club
