Courageous leadership and unresponsive organizations: a difficult marriage

By William Seidman  Cerebyte did a session on courageous leadership at ISPI (International Society for Performance Improvement)‘s recent conference that got really good reviews. Here is the gist of the session: We told executives that we will guarantee that their vision gets implemented. We asked the attendees at the session if they thought such a guarantee was a good thing or a bad thing. After some serious thought, they said that it was a good thing, but that it might not be credible. We shared that in our experience working with executives, that such a guarantee was actually a bad thing. Attend carefully to the wording of the guarantee: “We will guarantee that their vision gets implemented.” Whose vision are we guaranteeing? Who is now accountable for the quality and impact of the vision? They are, and many don’t like the idea. Many executives are used to having an unresponsive organization which gives them a reason — some would say an excuse — for the ineffectiveness of their vision. Guaranteeing that their vision gets implemented scares many executives.]]>