Page 187 - The extraordinary leader

164 • The Extraordinary Leader

they are thinking, “Reject new processes or approaches as long and hard as
you can.”
Those in the prevention orientation group would also like to be divorced
from any accountability, because that way they can avoid the negative out-
comes attendant with poor performance. Their position: “Never have your
fingerprints on a project that might fail.” “Always get someone in between you
and a risky program, so that if it does not work out, you can blame them.”
Much of life is spent in following the maxim: “It doesn’t matter whether you
win or lose, it’s how you place the blame.” They want someone to be the
scapegoat in case of failure.
Finally, this group does not initiate new projects or programs. Why? The
less you do, the less likelihood there is for error. The more things you get
under way, the greater the chances are for something to go wrong. So, the key
is to do as little as possible and survive. Keep your head down. Don’t draw
attention. Don’t rock the boat. That is success. If someone gives me infor-
mation that helps me to avoid failure, then I am forever grateful.
Higgins’ research sheds light on why people respond so differently to feed-
back and helps all leaders to be clearer about the right type of feedback to
give to others, depending on their basic orientation to life.
Another social psychologist, then at Columbia University and now teach-
ing at Stanford, Carol Dweck, conducted extensive research with school-
children and developed a framework with some similarities to that of Higgins.
Her research on feedback sheds further, but consistent, light on this fascinat-
ing topic.
Dweck’s research showed that people fell into two categories that she called
“improving” and “proving.” The first category, “improving,” views the world
as an opportunity to learn and grow. Problems they encounter that are hard
or highly time consuming are welcomed because that means they can
“improve” themselves. Mistakes are viewed as useful feedback. 5
The “proving” group of people view life as a process of justifying or prov-
ing themselves to others, particularly those in authority. Therefore, problems
that are hard or time consuming become a threat, because they show that the
person was not as capable as others had thought. These people, therefore, tend
to shrink away from difficult tasks and revert to tasks that are easily accom-
plished. They develop a helpless and dependent behavior.
We find much consistency between these two research endeavors. The
“improving” and “promotion” orientations seem quite analogous. Likewise,
the “proving” and the “prevention” orientations seem similar. Dweck’s research