The mother of all leadership blindspots drains people’s energy. Instead of solving important problems, focusing on customers, and creating innovative products and services, people expend time and energy working around the leader’s blind spots. Learn how to address the mother of all leadership blind spots and set people free to do their work.
Why You Don’t See The Mother of All Leadership Blind Spots
Try as you might, you can’t see the back of your head. Dual mirrors at the right angles solve this problem.
Try as you might you can’t see your own blind spots – patterns of thinking and behaving visible to others but not to you. Feedback from the right people solves this problem.
If you don’t know the back of your head exists (silly proposition), you don’t pick up a mirror. When others tell you the back of your head exists, you won’t consider the possibility because you’re convinced you know everything there is to know about your own head. You refuse to look in the mirror even when they hold it up for you.
If you think you’re not susceptible to certain types of blind spots, you won’t seek or accept feedback about them.
Overconfidence in your self-awareness is the mother of all leadership blind spots. It feeds your other blind spots, and it keeps you from seeing them. People see this overconfidence in your self-awareness as a giant billboard that reads,
“Don’t tell me anything I haven’t claimed to know about myself.”
The Quiet Sucking Sound of Wasted Energy
Some brave souls ignore the billboard’s warning. They risk telling you about a blind spot you haven’t yet seen or admitted to yourself. You get defensive because you hear the suggestion that you’re not as self-aware as you think. They’ve touched your mother of all leadership blind spots. The mother does not want to be seen or touched. They stop trying to tell you about her. Instead, they expend a good deal of mental energy figuring out how to deal with your huge mother of a blind spot. They do this in small groups, behind closed doors. They’re using time and energy they could devote to doing real work that benefits the business.
How to Kill the Mother of All Leadership Blind Spots
Hubris creates and feeds the mother blind spot. Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater, the world’s largest and most successful hedge fund also discovered a cure for his own hubris.
- Hire very smart courageous people, who will argue with you
- Listen to them
- Know when not to have an opinion
You can apply these principles to help you see the mother of all leadership blinds spots and the other binds spots she’s feeding.
- Surround yourself with insightful courageous people, who will give you feedback
- Listen to them
- Know when not to have an opinion about your blind spots