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2 Leadership Mistakes That Will Cost You!

Guest post by: Sylvia Lafair

Article Overview: Leaders take pride in being logical and accurate. This is good. Yet, there are two big mistakes that all leaders, all individuals, make over and over that are easy to remedy if you only pay attention. First, check assumptions! I'm sure most of you know the saying that if you merely "assume" you "make an ass out of you and me". It is the habit of believing on the basis of limited evidence, or trusting another individual or circumstance without asking enough questions.

2 Leadership Mistakes That Will Cost You!

Leaders take pride in being logical and accurate. This is good. Yet, there are two big mistakes that all leaders, all individuals, make over and over that are easy to remedy if you only pay attention. First, check assumptions! I'm sure most of you know the saying that if you merely "assume" you "make an ass out of you and me". It is the habit of believing on the basis of limited evidence, or trusting another individual or circumstance without asking enough questions.

It is a major human fault that has large ramifications. It can lead to, well, bank failures, terrorists getting on airplanes, and all the ugly stuff we deal with on a regular basis. You are better off being as Henry Thoreau advised... a gadfly. While checking out your assumptions may annoy other people, so what! You, as a leader, can save tons of wasted time and effort.

1.Make your mind an eternal question mark. Challenge and ask. The mantra is "if not sure, check it out"

2.Mistake number two is to shut your mind to new ideas.

Too many leaders hear a new idea and say "It will never work" - the tendency is to disbelieve what you don't understand. There is an interesting component of loyalty to the past that again, happens to all of us. There is also a "NIH" component of ‘not invented here' that keeps the old in place way too long.

If you judge before asking questions, you close the door to amazing possibilities. The trap is to say something is nonsense where lost opportunity stays behind the shut door. Checking assumptions and keeping an open mind are bed fellows. Patterns that keep you stuck in old ways of thinking and believing can be changed. Go to my website and take the Pattern Aware Quiz to find out where you need to make changes. After taking the quiz, contact us for a free half hour consultation to learn better ways of containing the patterns that don't work, and changing them to what we call their "healthy opposites".

The process of controlling your behavior patterns translates your thoughts into powerful actions that will lead you to success and a higher quality of life.

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Article Tags: assumptions, circumstance, habit, leadership, pride



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