Key points:
- All good to great companies began the process of finding a path to greatness by confronting the brutal facts of their current reality
- When you start with an honest and diligent effort to determine the truth of your situation, the right decisions often become self-evident. It is impossible to make good decisions without infusing the entire process with an honest confrontation of the brutal facts.
- A primary task in taking a company from good to great is to create a culture wherein people have a tremendous opportunity to be heard and, ultimately, for the truth to be heard.
- Creating a climate where the truth is heard involves four basic practices:
1. Lead with questions, not answers
2. Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion.
3. Conduct autopsies, without blame.
4. Build red flag mechanisms that turn information into information that cannot be ignored.
- The good to great companies faced just as much adversity as the comparison companies, but responded to that adversity differently. They hit the realities of their situation head on. As a result, they emerged from adversity even stronger.
- A key psychology for leading from good to great is the Stockdale Paradox: Retain absolute faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and at the same time confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.
- Charisma can be as much a liability as an asset, as the strength of your leadership personality can deter people from bringing you the brutal facts.
- Leadership does not begin just with vision. It begins with getting people to confront the brutal facts and to act on the implications
- Spending time and energy trying to “motivate” people is a waste of effort. The real question is not, “How do we motivate our people?” If you have the right people, they will be self-motivated. The key is to not de-motivate them. One of the primary ways to de-motivate people is to ignore the brutal facts of reality.