You’re in a big role. You earned that spot through years of experience, triumph and trials, and having the courage and confidence to do hard things. You entered it with the respect that should come with your title and, right now, you might be suffering from one significant blind spot.
Long before my first step into management I became a student of leadership. Every opportunity I had, I observed senior leaders intensely. Simultaneously, I studied every book on leadership I could get my hands on.
As an up-and-coming leader, I remember looking at corporate executives with a sort of awe and wondering “what were they like at this stage?” And “what caused them to keep rising, as their peers stayed put?”
The Patterns
Early on, my interest was focused on what made leaders successful. Later, I got just as interested in what tripped leaders up and limited their trajectories.
By my third career-ladder move, I was seeing patterns – positive and negative.
Interestingly, there wasn’t one personality type, or other demographic, that aligned with the best, or the worst leaders.
There were, however, habits that consistently produced similar results on both ends of the spectrum.
The Best
The leaders who were the most insightful, influential, and garnered the greatest respect, also had the deepest bench strength and best results.
Their personalities were wildly different, but they gravitated toward each other because they had these things in common: they were voracious readers, active participants, intentional listeners, and they continually sought to understand their worlds – the people, the outcomes, and the possibilities.
The Others
On the surface, the “less great” leaders didn’t have obvious similarities either, but with a little observation their patterns surfaced too.
They generally had big opinions, and little interest in other’s views. They kept a tight circle, worked in silos, and when in big groups they isolated with a few of their direct reports.
They passed through rooms with a disengaged air. In retreats and workshops, they stayed on their laptops, took phone calls, came and went frequently, and had distracting side conversations throughout.
They knew their business, but cared nothing about intersecting divisions, interdependencies, or opportunities to collaborate for the greater good.
They had no time for learning and development – that was for lower levels, and perhaps their weaker peers.
The Blind Spot
Fast forward beyond my corporate leadership days; I’ve now been coaching and consulting with leaders for nearly two decades. Still observing and still identifying patterns, but now through the lens of helping leaders eliminate blind spots as they continue to evolve and reach new heights.
It’s not an exaggeration to say I’ve worked with hundreds of leaders from across the industries: attorneys, politicians, scientists, archaeologists, geologists, manufacturers, accountants, doctors, wealth managers, government, municipalities, law enforcement, defense industry, insurance, banking, military, pharmaceuticals, and nonprofits.
My data across the range of industries has solidified one truth and one common blind spot:
- The Truth: The best leaders are openly continual learners, always developing their skills, and evolving.
- They are chronically curious. In the social science term: they navigate with a growth mindset.
- Their interest in understanding supports a culture where it’s safe – even encouraged – to create, collaborate, experiment, learn, apply, and do it again.
- It is this genuine curiosity that protects them from the blind spot that plagues so many.
- The Blind Spot: Believing learning and development is complete.
- It could be complacency, arrogance, pride, or feeling like there’s not enough time, but leaders who aren’t engaged with curiosity, proactively learning, and evolving, become isolated, backslide and stagnate in their roles.
- Because of their apparent arrogance, peers work around them instead of with them and ineffective behaviors become vicious cycles.
- As a leader goes so goes their team. Leaders who fall prey to this blind spot have higher turnover, produce fewer high potentials, and create avoidable barriers for their teams.
The stats
My data is based on observation, but behavioral science and leadership research backs it up.
A TalentLMS Growth Mindset in the Workplace report found that 96% of executives say they embody a growth mindset, but only 45% of their employees agree.
Research from the Center for Creative Leadership on successful versus derailed executives found both groups shared nearly identical early profiles: high-potential, smart, strong track records. Although they started off with what looked like equal footing, the derailed execs were described as cold, aloof, and arrogant.
Finally, Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning research found two unfortunately common outcomes of advancing through corporate leadership levels:
- A loss of empathy.
- An increase in pride.
Both negate a growth mindset.
The good news here is, although this blind spot is incredibly common, it is also simple to overcome.
Three Tips To Eliminate This Blind Spot
1. Pay attention to your own patterns.
Do you approve development and training for your team but find yourself too busy to participate? When you do attend, are you checking email, having side conversations, or mentally checked out because you don’t think you need it?
Leaders, your peers, direct reports, and leaders above you are watching. You cannot fake a growth mindset. Having one, or not, frames how others experience you.
Bonus tip: if your team needs development in a specific area, there is a good chance you do too. Show up as a participative learner alongside them. Collaborate on how you’ll apply what you’ve learned, individually and as a team.
2. Enlist a trusted partner to call you out.
- Invite someone you trust to observe you and give you honest feedback.
- Tell them you are working on developing more curiosity and a stronger growth mindset.
- Ask them to point out when they see contradictions to that goal.
This only works if you accept their feedback graciously, and use it to keep doing better.
3. Build a learning and development plan for yourself — and honor it.
To be one of the best, your own learning and growth must remain a priority.
- Commit to learning outside the comfort zone you have spent years building.
- Experiment with what you learn. Keep and refine what works.
- When something doesn’t work, learn from it and try something else.
The Wrap
You did not get to your role by accident. It took learning, development, and evolving to get you there.
That same drive for growing and expanding will keep you relevant, successful, and moving forward. Moving through your career with a growth mindset is a win-win-win: You win, your teams wins, and the entire organization wins.
Don’t let a blind spot, associated with pride, arrogance, or complacency, hold you back.
Your personal growth is not complete. It never is.
Would your leadership team would benefit from identifying and eliminating blind spots? Reach out today for a free strategic consultation!
