Friday, October 8, 2010

Overconfidence is the Disease of Experts!

What does it mean for leaders to fail? In light of the failures recently experienced in this turbulent economy, Malcom Gladwell explored this question in a recent talk "Overconfidence and the Diseases of the Experts" at UTC. Gladwell is the author of bestsellers “The Tipping Point,” “Blink” and “Outliers”.

Using the power of a great civil war battle story, Gladwell contrasted the leadership styles of General Hooker of the Union Army, and General Lee of the Confederate Army, at the 1863 battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. General Hooker was known for his sophisticated approach for military intelligence and "knew more about Lee's army than Lee did", said Gladwell. Did more information, create greater leadership?

Gladwell went on to a share a research study which clearly demonstrated more information generates improved confidence but only marginal increases in performance. In fact, Gladwell went on to say, "more information potentially causes mis-calibration". Hooker was so confident his 130K strong army would prevail in battle over Lee's 64K strong army, he delayed the start of battle so the Union men could prepare, eat, and rest. Lee took this opportunity to drive south, giving the illusion of withdrawal, and then split his smaller army into mini battle units to infiltrate and surprise Hooker's men during their final meal. Lee prevailed! "Over confidence is the disease of experts. Incompetence is the disease of idiots. Incompetence annoys. Overconfidence hurts", said Gladwell.

"We don't need to rely on the expertise of leaders, we need to rely on the humility of our leaders", shared Gladwell. For the leaders who we charge with making expert decisions, they need to prevail in two critical capabilities: complexity of decision making AND the essentials of character. In my opinion said Gladwell, "it is the essentials of character that are in greater demand today!".

What do you think? What are the essentials of great leadership today? I would like to hear from you.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Attach the Candle to the Wall?

Suppose you were given the task of attaching a candle to the wall so that, when lit, no wax would drip on the floor. Your materials are a picture of a candle, a box of tacks, and a matchbook. In today's economy, it feels like we are often asked to do the impossible with limited resources. Creative solutions are king in today's competitive market place and those who bring great creativity to the table often win.

William Maddux of INSEAD, an international business school, and Adam D. Galinsky of Northwestern University ran five studies to gauge how well people solve "insight creativity tasks". Based on the candle problem outlined, for the participants who had lived abroad, 60 percent came up with the creative solution (using the empty box, tacked to the wall, as a candle holder), as compared with 42 percent of those who hadn't lived abroad. Their study suggest experiencing another culture may make you more creative.

"These effects likely have to do with acquiring what is called reflected knowledge- understanding how you look from another culture's point of view- as well as how much you internalize that view. Reflected knowledge allows you to see things as an outsider", according to Frank Bures, a writer for Esquire.

Seeing possibilities, questioning mental models, connecting things that don't appear to connect are one of the key foundations of creativity. We could all book a trip to an exotic new location to open our minds and reflective knowledge pool but I'm afraid most employers wouldn't see this as a reimbursable education venture. So, how do we provide provide opportunities for our leaders to see things differently? I would be interested in your point of view.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Are you winning the Business War Game?

In today's competitive environment, many CEOs are feeling the impact of daily war gaming. How do you anticipate competitive moves and market shifts? Are the members of your executive team aligned on how your organization will respond?

We are incorporating two bodies of great work in this space in our accelerated decision offers: Business War Games by Benjamin Gilad, PhD, and Scenario Planning by Mats Lindgren and Has Banhold.

According to Gilad, "war games help discover problematic intelligence gaps, create buy-in, define strengths and weaknesses", and prepare you to formulate a better strategy, with a strong business case, and people alignment.

"Predicting competitors' moves is similar to predicting hurricanes", said Gilad. What is your methodology for preparing for a competitive hurricane?

Today, the link between future options and your strategy has to be organic. We are interested in hearing from you on what works in your organization.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Non-profits Collaborate - YEA!

THE BIG SQUEEZE!

With the state of the economy, non-profits are being squeezed from both sides with less contributions on the way in and more customers needing service. This sounds like an executive's worst night-mare.

Who was it that said "crisis is the mother of invention?". We are fortunate to be working with a number of non-profits who are saying "There has to be a better way!".

We salute a group of non-profit leaders in Chattanooga who are exploring collaboration to deliver more with less. If you know of a non-profit collaboration leading practice, we would love to hear about it!!

Here are the sites idenfitied thus for by the Chattanooga initiative:

http://www.asu.edu/copp/nonprofit/conf/coll_models_report_FINALDRAFT.pdf

http://www.tano.org/about/

http://www.durhamcares.org/

Programs – The Center for Family Resources Blog

http://www.communitybuilders.nsw.gov.au/building_stronger/enterprise/innovat
ivecoops.html