How to change your leadership team’s mindset and escape the intelligence trap

How to change your leadership team’s mindset and escape the intelligence trap

We were sitting in the meeting room, surrounded by our company’s brightest minds. The air buzzed with ideas as the presentation of the new company strategy gathered pace. Suddenly, someone sceptically asked whether we actually intended to implement the strategy being presented. The finance director then posed a question that made me think: “Are we sometimes too intelligent for our own good?”

💡 The intelligence trap

I have thought about that repeatedly ever since. Can our intelligence, our proud knowledge and deep experience, regarded today as the ultimate currencies, sometimes get in our way? I vividly remember the finance director’s explanation. It was as though our ability to identify problems and expose weaknesses in the proposed direction also gave us an excuse to do nothing. Our intelligence and sharpened awareness of risks and potential errors can sometimes leave us like a lame horse.

👩🏻‍⚕️ Courage, innovation and acceptance of mistakes

Most people are risk-averse: they avoid risks and shy away from the unknown. Yet this caution and fear of failure could mean missing precisely what might lead to a breakthrough.

Instead of letting intelligence and experience restrict us, we should use them as tools for advancing courageously, experimenting and taking risks. Our experience should guide us, not bind us. It should move us to try something new:

JustDoIt

We should work out how to take new paths instead of constantly questioning whether we should take them. The biggest breakthroughs often emerge when we look beyond familiar boundaries and make the impossible possible, thinking innovatively, acting courageously and accepting that mistakes belong to the process. Ultimately, this #Courage, coupled with intelligence and experience, could be the key to success.

🏁 Execution wins

If you would like to learn more about developing a bolder mindset in your #LeadershipTeam, I have a gift for you: download the free Game Changing Partner ePlaybook “Execution Wins”. It contains many helpful tips for more effective #StrategyExecution.