By Susanne Biro
Stanley Kubrick once said, “If you can talk brilliantly about a problem, you can create the consoling illusion that it has been mastered.” As Kubrick suggests, knowing what to do and actually doing it are two very different things.
I doubt that many of us need additional information about how to be a more effective leader, as much as we need to find a way to consistently apply what it is we already know. We may attend a valuable workshop, class or industry conference, and yet most of us will continue to do Monday morning what we did the previous Friday afternoon. Why? Largely, because it has worked well; it has led to our current level of success. However, as the title to Marshall Goldsmith’s latest book warns, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. Read on…
You’ve done all the right things. You’ve provided crystal clear direction to your organization, rewarded courageous risk-taking, encouraged innovation, honored diversity, demanded personal accountability, put the customer first…but it all just went to hell in a hand basket. Your market just went south, a major product failed or your biggest customer went under. Your numbers are in the tank, your best people are leaving and you no longer know whom to trust on your management team. It’s 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday and you’re at the office because sleep is pretty scarce these days. You find yourself breaking into a near-homicidal rage every time some well-meaning consultant who has never managed a Kool-Aid stand tells you to “envision a positive future”, “play to your strengths,” and “enlist everyone in a positive change effort.” For the first time in a long time, you are really afraid. You’re deep into your career and you just can’t take a hit this big right now. Hire some great new people? Craft a new sales strategy? Cut your losses and leave now? This is clearly the lowest point of your career. 
