There might be 100 things in your control which impact the end results, but there can be 100 thousand things which are not in your control, and which may have negative impact on end results
Sharing a learning I came across recently
When a senior executive candidate is interviewed for a CEO role
for any global organisation, Fortune 500, Fortune 100, etc
what is it that the Board look for?
for the candidate to be paid multimillion dollars as annual compensation
what is that one thing the Board evaluates?
Academics – no way; mostly this candidate would come from couple of premium b-schools
Performances – no way; their performances are quite visible and public
The Board replied, it is no good to ask how she/he would grow the business further
the business is anyway so robust, anyone can do it
The Board answered – we ask only one thing to the potential candidate
to share the biggest failure of her/his life and what did she/he do
and even in managing the failure, we don’t look for what strategy or actions she/he applied
but we look for her/his attitude towards the situation
why?
the Board knows they have invested in the right business and the business will do good
but if something goes wrong, can the candidate hold it and come out of that difficult situation
There might be 100 things in your control which impact your results,
but there can be 100 thousand things which are not in your control
and which may have negative impact on end results
when it comes to a great leadership, managing failures is more critical competence than driving performance
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