Page 81 - Fearless Leadership

68 FEARLESS LEADERSHIP

Tolerating “good enough” gives you a license to play it safe by
avoiding being accountable for exploring new solutions and ideas
and taking bold action.

When the need to be right is dominant and becomes the General in
charge, the blind spots become its foot soldiers and keep you stuck in play-
ing small and playing safe. When you feel threatened—real or perceived—
the need to survive and be right takes over. You unknowingly shrink the
game, and people around you disengage and withdraw. Guarded and
shielded leaders do not inspire others to greatness.
If you want to play big and ensure that your organization survives
and moves to the next level of success, then protecting yourself from
making mistakes or being wrong is an ineffective strategy. You must learn
how to include your imperfections in how you unite and motivate oth-
ers and to do what fearless leaders do: be transparent, authentic, and
accountable.

TRADING RELATIONSHIPS AND EFFECTIVENESS
FOR THE NEED TO BE RIGHT
When you trade effectiveness and relationships for the need to be right,
everything becomes small: your thinking, how you relate to others and the
organization, and your level of engagement. It happens in an instant.
Something occurs and you react, and your thinking and perception con-
tract. You may be unaware that your perception has altered and in its place,
a fixed view has formed.
Without realizing it, you no longer see yourself as an owner or view the
organization from the larger perspective. Your framework for how you
think about your role and your company shrivels and prevents new possi-
bilities from emerging. Finally, you become resigned and lose your vital-
ity, and along with it, your sense of having a greater purpose. For
high-achieving leaders, this is the greatest loss of all.
When the need to be right becomes more important than the need to
be effective, you become internally focused and lose sight of what is really
happening. Others may offer much-needed solutions that provide you with
exactly what you need, but you don’t hear them because of your inflexi-
ble position.