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Talking Technology By Steve Burns, Capital News contributor Are you the type of leader who finds it difficult to make quick decisions, driving other people crazy by your indecisiveness? Do you fail to always have a straight black or white answer to everything that comes across your desk? Do you frequently find yourself wondering whether conventional wisdom is just a bit too simplistic for the realities of our day? Good, says Steven Sample, president of the University of Southern California, in his book entitled The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership. You are well on your way to becoming a contrarian leader—one who sees situations from their own unique viewpoint and seeks out new solutions to the challenges facing their organization. In our continuing series on the Leadership Summit put together by the Leadership Centre of Willow Creek Canada (www.growingleadership.com), we will look more closely over the next few weeks at the leadership teachings of Steven Sample. I find it interesting when an author comes up with ideas that are totally contrary to what you have always been taught. They certainly capture my attention. Steven Sample is just such an author. Sample is widely regarded as one of this generation's most effective and innovative university presidents. As management guru Warren Bennis notes in the foreword to this book, “There are few originals left in American society today, men and women who speak with a unique voice and who can offer an unconventional perspective and bracing authenticity. “Steve Sample is an undisputed original. Simply put, his is a voice that should be heard by all those who would aspire to lead thoughtfully and effectively in our own time.” While I must say that I did not agree with everything that he said, I appreciate his nine counterintuitive leadership lessons: 1. Never make a decision today that can reasonably be put off to tomorrow. 2. Think gray. Don't form opinions if you don't have to. 3. Think free. Move several steps beyond traditional brainstorming. 4. Listen first, talk later. And when you listen, do so artfully. 5. Shoot your own horse. Don't force others to do your dirty work. 6. The best leaders don't keep up with the popular media and the trades. 7. Know what hill you are willing to die on—and keep its exact location to yourself. 8. Know the all–important difference between being leader and doing leader. 9. You can't copy your way to the top. Sample made me uncomfortable and that is good for me. While I may not like the process, I do like being challenged to think differently, to get out of my box and accept that there may be another way. For example, the idea of deferring decisions doesn't fit with me. I call that procrastinationism—that dreaded deferral disease that impacts us all. However, I also understand that a hasty decision can also be a very poor one. What made me think was this—there are circumstances in which a quick decision must be made but, for the most part, why do we treat every decision as if it absolutely has to be made now? Why do we assume that every decision has the same time constraints? Sample's point was we need to consider whether or not the decision absolutely needs to be made now and, if so, why. I enjoyed his reference to John F. Kennedy's decision making style. When someone came to JFK with a decision he would always ask by what time/date he needed to make a decision and why. Often the sense of urgency that everyone had for JFK could not be rationally explained. It was a useful technique to help JFK discern between the urgent decisions and those less urgent. I enjoyed the thought that we need to filter decisions with a timeframe and try to discern the real sense of urgency that should be applied. I also enjoyed the caveat that Sample added to his point with “reasonably put off until tomorrow.” For example, in your business it is not reasonable to defer every decision as some decisions must be made now or market opportunities will be lost forever. Many of us don't have the luxury of deferring decisions until we have all of the information that we need. This just isn't how most of life and business works. However, Sample acknowledges that it takes courage to make decisions when things are blurry and you don't have all of the facts straight. He just wants you to be sure that you have asked the right questions about the timeframe required are that you not acting in haste. A contrarian leader makes sure that they understand the decision timeframe and rationale, gathers as much factual information as possible in the time allowed and makes the most informed decision possible. While perhaps there are some decisions that we should be giving more time and thought to, perhaps on Sample's point I am the contrarian's contrarian. I think that a business' decisiveness and sense of urgency in decision making can be a very strong competitive differentiator. How often have you chosen to give your business to either another business or individual that shared your sense of urgency, clearly understood your needs and demonstrated that they were hungry for your business? In fact, they were very decisive and didn't defer anything. How many companies exist today simply because an entrepreneur had a wild and crazy idea, was willing to take huge risks and acted more quickly than anyone else to get their product to market? Constantly deferring decisions in a business context just doesn't make sense to me. It could cost you your company. This is exactly why I enjoyed this conference so much. I constantly need to be pushed out of my comfort zone and be challenged by very radically different leadership perspectives. After all, I consider leadership an art and all of our leadership capabilities a work in progress. If a leader provides us with fresh insight and a different perspective that challenges us, they have served their purpose well. I am looking forward to digging into the vault of Sample teachings to learn more about how to apply his contrarian principles. Next week we will look more closely at Sample's other contrarian points. Steve Burns, CA, CMC, CFP, is the president and CEO of Burns Innovation Group Inc. (www.burnsinnovation.com) and Steve Burns Inc. Chartered Accountant (www.steveburns.ca), which provide consulting and accounting services to entrepreneurs. You can reach Steve at 763-4716 or via e-mail at: |
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