Three Steps to Success

We are all only human, and everyone of us has blind spots when it comes to both knowing ourselves and knowing how others will perceive us (and our actions). For leaders, the most troubling sort of blind spot occurs when you know that others think differently than you do, and you simply don't care. The inevitable outcome of this is arrogance, and breeds the seeds of its own downfall.

In those instances when you don't know how you will be perceived by others, or don't know if your actions will be perceived or appreciated in the same way that you intended, then leaders must be willing to take three steps.

First, is to ask for feedback from others and in this way determine the alignment between self-perceptions and those of others.

Second, is to listen to that feedback (or don't bother with step one!), especially if you learn something in this exchange you didn't expect or even want to hear.

Step three is to be willing to change your intended course of action; or again, don't bother in the first place.