As leaders, we simply don’t pay enough attention to blind spots. Experience blinds us to current struggles and difficulties. When we’re so wrapped up in past success, we begin to miss what’s going on in our lives today.
If not looked for and anticipated, change – and its sub-elements, tension and balance – can become blind spots for even the most experienced in leadership. I know this because I have experienced it first hand.
Whether you are the CEO of a large corporation or leading a fledgling start-up, every leader must strive to be aware of their personal blind spots. Areas of weakness must not be avoided, but should be recognized for what they could be – areas of growth.
Last month during an interview with Bill Ringle on My Quest for the Best, I was able to delve a little bit deeper into the ideas found in Leadership and the Art of Struggle.
As I spoke with Bill, I shared the value of embracing struggle, recognizing it as an important way to strive towards authenticity and clarity in the workplace. I also spent some time on my own struggle story, because we all have one.
It is inevitable that we will stumble, become sidetracked by blind spots, and experience difficult challenges, but the key is to recover quickly. Work with a coach, and stick to your scripts:
- Proactive Reinvention
- Stumble, Recover, and Learn
- Burnout
- Transcending Constraint
- Mission Impossible
- Confronting Failure
Reach out. Grow. Yearn for things better than status quo. The future is bright, but it takes work and effort to get there.
If you’d like to know more, I encourage you to listen to the 30-minute recording of my time with Bill.
