Five Temptations of a CEO – III : The Third Temptation

  

Am back to doing what I enjoy....writing.

We move on to the 3^rd Temptation of CEO

Even CEOs who resist the temptation to protect their status and to be popular with their direct reports sometimes fail. Why ? They choose certainty over clarity. They succumb to a different temptation : The need to make “correct” decisions, to certainty.

Self Analysis

Some questions that will help identify your susceptibility to this temptation of ‘choosing Certainty over Clarity’   

1.     Do you pride yourself on being intellectually precise ?

2.   Do you prefer to wait for more information rather than make a decision without all the facts ?

3.   Do you enjoy debating details with your direct reports during meetings ?

Many CEOs, especially the highly analytical ones, want to ensure that their decisions are correct. In this world of imperfect information & uncertainty, they end up delaying their decisions with the need for precision & correctness, often ending up failing to make their people’s deliverables clear. They end up giving vague and hesitant directions to their direct reports and hope that they would figure out the right answers along the way.

However, intellectual precision alone is not a sign for this temptation. It shows signs of manifestation during staff meetings in terms of unnecessary debates over nitty-gritties. These debates are problematic for two reasons :

1.     They eat up valuable time that can be use to discuss larger issues.

2.   The more important of all – they create a climate of excessive analysis and over-intellectualisation of tactical issues !

One person who cannot afford to be overtly precise – it is the CEO !

Simple Advice for the CEOs

Make Clarity more important than Accuracy. People will learn more if you take decisive action than if you always wait for information. And, if on receiving additional information you realise that the decision you have taken earlier, in the spirit of creating clarity, change the plans & explain why to your team. It is your job to risk being wrong ! The only real cost to you of being wrong is loss of pride. But the greater loss t your company of not taking the risk of being wrong is Paralysis !!