Page 151 - Fearless Leadership

138 FEARLESS LEADERSHIP

In the example below I have used brackets to highlight the elements
Scott used in taking a bold stand.

“We behave as if people and business results are mutually exclusive.
We are afraid that we will not have enough time to do both things.
What we are not paying attention to is the time it takes to deal with
problems, breakdowns, and burnout. We need to learn new skills and
behaviors to save time and avoid loss of productivity. I see two chal-
lenges: the first is how I need to be a more effective leader, and the sec-
ond is how we need to be more effective together.”

[Be Open and Accessible, and Talk about Your Blind Spots.]
“Let’s start with my leadership: I stay up at night thinking about what
I’m not seeing. My wife tells me that I am unbearable—curt and dis-
tant. Then she threw in that I don’t listen. Something clicked for me.
I realized I don’t listen and don’t include you either.
“My blind spot is going it alone, and that’s what I’ve been doing.
I’ve been trying to solve this problem by myself. I have isolated myself
from my family and from you, at a time when we need one another.”

[Call for Committed Partnerships First, and Engage People
Emotionally and Intellectually.]
“How to be more effective is now clear to me: we must work together
as committed partners and cease all behavior that keeps us separated,
working in silos, and going it alone.”
[Focus the Committed Partnerships on Your Mission-Critical
Objectives.]
“Our business challenge, as you know, is not on the technical or busi-
ness side—we know how to produce great results, and we have a proven
track record. Our challenge is on the people side of the equation where
we also have a proven track record—but not one that we want: we burn
people out during a start-up and lose the very resource that is most
important to us.
“I want us to answer two questions: (1) how are we going to create
an environment where people feel good about how we get the job done
and (2) how are we going to engage people so they want to do this
again?”