Page 204 - The extraordinary leader

New Insights into Leadership Development • 181

tell themselves that they did a good job when they did a poor job. They ignore
feedback from others. They debate the reactions of others, saying, “They are
only saying that because they are out to get my job, or they are jealous of my
abilities.” There are levels of self-honesty. Some people come to accept the
feedback others give them but still resist being perfectly honest with them-
selves about what they do well and problems that need to be improved. Being
absolutely honest with one’s self and refusing the opportunity for self-deceit
is a key skill for extraordinary leaders.
How Can I Become More Innovative? An examination of the compe-
tency companions for innovation found that innovative leaders were also good
at learning from both their successes and failures. At first blush, this again
seems like an unlikely combination. Most think of innovation as the ability
to produce creative ideas and to get those ideas implemented. Learning, on
the other hand, is the ability to absorb new information, to recognize patterns,
to see cause-and-effect relationships—all ultimately culminating in new
behavior.
We think it is probable that those who are not innovative have lost some
ability to learn. They aren’t paying attention to what is transpiring in their
environment. They rationalize rather than change their behavior. Good learn-
ers carefully observe their environment, they study how things happen, and
they are inquisitive about cause-and-effect relationships. A key to being inno-
vative is increasing one’s ability to learn.

Focus on Results—Another Pole Lifting the Tent

Helping Others Achieve Exceptional Results. The ability to set stretch
goals is a critical skill that helps motivate people to achieve exceptional results.
As one of the 16 differentiating behaviors, setting stretch goals is a behavior
that is easy to talk about but harder to do. Some propose a simple path:
develop what you think is a reasonable goal, then multiply by two. In the end,
many leaders back off because they are uncomfortable asking others to take
on a task that they themselves view as unreasonable or impossible. The first
step in setting stretch goals is for you to believe in the stretch capacity of peo-
ple. Jack Welch speaks often of the enormous capacity of the workforce to do
more. He said, “There is an unlimited amount of juice in that lemon.” 4
We found that leaders who were effective at setting stretch goals were also
effective at risk taking. It appears that leaders who are willing to challenge the