This is said so well.
“Truly talented people are ambidextrous – they can focus on the task at hand, while simultaneously scanning the skies for what might upset their chosen directions. Listening to such talented people is one of the best ways for the top management of companies to be aware of the risks inherent in their strategies and the options they can pursue to lower those risks. The alternative is not pretty – you wake up one day and find yourself in a changed landscape, one that you never even knew was even coming.”
I’ll let you do your own research as to why the author of that quote is a talented person who should be listened to.
As for me, I constantly think about how the future is going to be full of challenges and is going to be different than it is now. I often get heat for not spending enough time on the task at hand. That’s a weakness of mine. Also, I am often in situations where everyone wishes they’d thought more about the future and had planned ahead more. They find themselves in the middle of something they “never even knew was even coming.”
I think that I find myself in that situation far less often than those around me. That’s probably due to my passion for “scanning the skies for what might upset their [my] chosen directions.”
Sometimes things are out of our control. Most of the time, things are out of our control.
There are always other perspectives. And, there are always ways to do everything better. Someone else is always practicing more. Someone else always has the ability to be better. Welcome to being humbled. It’s the truth!
Maturity and experience help us learn how to deal with situations. A humble leader is a better leader.
Filed under: Leadership, Listening, Perspective
