So Sure

I was leading a group on a cross country walk deep in Pilbara. I was so sure that I had our position accurately pegged on the map. It seemed so obvious…All we had to do was follow a dry riverbed down hill. I never noticed a subtle turn left into a major tributary or even that we were now going uphill, until someone in the group pointed out an undeniable flaw in my reading of the map. It was another example of the socks, a situation where certainty led to blind spots and consequences that took a while to sort out. In both those cases I was absolutely wrong, there have been others where I have been technically right, but doggedly pursuing that ‘rightness’ has hampered progress.

Leadership in part, is a fine art of balancing peoples buy in with the action that is closest to ‘right’. Everyone following blindly down the wrong path, doesn’t make it any more right. Equally, no one following down the optimal path renders it sub optimal. We should never compromise ethics and values, but sometimes we need to ease up on what we think is right.

I’d love to hear your experiences with that.