This is what stalls or derails leader’s career and what to do about it?
Posted on August 24, 2020 by Tushar Vakil, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
At mid-career, a lot of leader’s career stalls, and they are often passed over for promotions. How does a leader avoid such a fate and keep growing?
A study by HBR reported that two out of five Fortune 500 CEOs fail in their first eighteen months. At mid-career level, a lot of leader’s career stalls and they are often passed over for promotions. How does a leader avoid such a fate and keep growing as a leader and also keep moving up the career ladder?
Ego trap and Leadership Derailers
Getting to a leadership position is not easy. Staying there is often even more difficult! It is quite common to see a leader successfully guide a company through one challenge and then fail facing other less pressing issues. A study by HBR reported that two out of five Fortune 500 CEOs fail in their first eighteen months. At mid-career level, a lot of leader’s career stalls and they are often passed over for promotions. How does a leader avoid such a fate and keep growing as a leader and also keep moving up the career ladder? What are the ego trap and Leadership Derailers leaders fall for?
The wise advice to the newly appointed General!
Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, the world’s number one leadership thinker and executive coach narrates an incident with a newly promoted General in the US army. Read the summary of two best-selling books by Marshall Goldsmith What Got You Here Won’t Get You There-Marshall Goldsmith-Book summary and Triggers – Marshall Goldsmith-Book Summary
At a dinner and a cocktail party, the new General was approached by a veteran, experienced and wise General. He asks a few questions to the newly appointed General and shares some words of wisdom with him.
Wise General – “Have you noticed lately that people tend to laugh at all your jokes?”
New General – “Yes, I have!”
Wise General – “When you share a nugget of your wisdom – everyone nods their heads in unison and no one disagrees with any of your ideas?”
New General – “Yes it is true!”
Wise General – “Well, let me tell you something! You are not that funny. Nor are your nuggets of wisdom any good! It is the star on your shoulder – that tells them that you are a General – that is getting you these rave reviews. Don’t forget that and don’t let it get to your head!”
Getting honest feedback as we move up the career ladder
As we move up the career ladder, it becomes more and more difficult to get honest feedback. People around us avoid telling us the unpleasant truths. They learn to highlight our “good” deeds and shower praise upon us. Essentially, we get watered down truths at best and unfettered and sometimes insincere praise. We only hear one side of the story–how good we are! Unfortunately, this continuous positive reinforcement eventually gets into most leader’s heads. It is hard for the leader to stay grounded and the leader suffers from what Marshall Goldsmith calls “success delusion.”
The Emperor’s new clothes
We have all read the story of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” The Emperor’s ministers, family members, the common folks–all saw that the Emperor had no clothes on, and he was naked. But no one wanted to tell the emperor the unpleasant truth that he was naked. When you are a leader and in a position of power, subordinates, colleagues, and peers hesitate to tell you anything that is unflattering. Getting the unfiltered truth from them becomes increasingly difficult. And this becomes a problem sooner than later. When a leader stops getting candid feedback, he loses touch with reality. He will stop learning, changing, and improving. In a fast-changing VUCA world, that puts the brakes on the leader’s further growth, or in the worst-case scenario, gets them fired.
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