Leading Beyond Fear – Neil Pretty (1)

The Execution Over Learning Trap In late 2020, we were asked to consult with an organization that made software for dental offices. The leadership team and co-founders were brilliant, fast, and incredibly motivated. They worked at a pace that could spin up a product launch in half the time of what we had seen in other similar cases. I’ve worked as an advisor for tech start-ups since and none of them could even come close to the output of this small team.

At first, we were a bit perplexed—they seemed exceptionally competent. After a little more digging, the cracks started to show. Products went to market with obvious flaws. Customer feedback piled up but wasn’t addressed. Perhaps the most telling sign was that they were fighting the same problems week after week. They were exhausted, particularly the founders, but still pushing forward.

They got a lot done, but it was never to a high enough standard. They had taken the “move fast and break things” mindset to heart but didn’t bother to figure out how to learn when things did break. Execution was everything to them. Like most of the clients I’ve talked to since, they didn’t even consider learning to be part of what they should be doing. Learning was an afterthought.

It was costing them on the business front because they were allocating so much time on things that weren’t getting them ahead. They were looking to change. But the company was about to come crashing down. One of the co-founders found himself in the hospital after a severe anxiety attack. His hospital stay meant things would need to pivot more quickly.

They were forced to slow down. As a company, they made reflection part of the work in part, because they were forced to. Then they actually got better. The irony was clear: by slowing down to learn, they sped up. They weren’t running into the same problems over and over. They were moving forward, not just moving. This forced reflection became the new norm and central to their eventual success. It’s tempting, especially in fast environments, to believe that speed is the strategy.

That the team who executes the most wins. A good racecar needs a powerful engine, good aerodynamics, and suspension, but one of the biggest influences for the fastest lap times on a complex course are the brakes. Just like the cars with the best brakes, a team with a skill to reflect well will take less time and get more done during their reflective practice. You can’t achieve high performance by executing on tasks alone—you need something different to win the performance race.

The ability to slow down and think clearly is a key to high performance. I’ve said to crowds of people and high-performance leadership clients over the years.

Foreword: Dr. Amy C. Edmondson Foreword: Dr. Anita Polite-Wilson Introduction: Oh, the Places You’ll Go… How to Use This Book Background on Psychological Safety From Theory to Mindset Why This Matters to You, Not Just Those You Lead Notes 1 The Nature of Psychological Safety How We Work to Manage the Future How People Manage Impressions and Their Environment Our Primal Need for Safety Clearing the Air and Dispelling Myths The Real Rules Are More Than a Values Statement Interdependence Is the Thread to Follow Psychological Safety Is Not the End, It’s On the Way Notes 2 The Elements to Lead Choosing Leadership Starts Before the Titles Do Owning Your Role as a Leader Leadership Is Often a Matter of Context Understanding Power as Influence, Not Force Notes 3 Leading Yourself Finding Courage, Calm, and Clarity as a Leader The Courage in Managing Your Response Humility: The Hidden Engine of Strong Leadership Mastering the Confidence Equation Building Empathy and Gaining Perspectives to Access Innovation Investing in Learning Over Execution Notes 4 From Mindset to Application: Moving from Me to We Creating Clarity Through Framing, Reframing, and Setting Expectations Avoiding Plausible Accountability and Ignorant Diligence Feedback Habits That Build Performance Finding What’s Right to Build Culture and Momentum Elicitation, Inquiry, and Listening Between the Lines: The Foundation for Better Leadership Dialogue, Facilitation, and Group Decision-Making: Skills You Didn’t Know You Needed Discernment and Prioritization: Skills You Didn’t Know You Wanted Negotiation: The Hidden Skill You Will Use Every Day Notes 5 Shaping Key Moments and Critical Conversations Making the Most of Meetings, Shared Time, and Shared Effort The Four Cs for Better Meetings, More Productivity, and Less Waste Checking In, Building Connection, and Developing Relationship Equity Building Better One-on-Ones and Team Relationships Learning, Evolving, and Mastering the Post Game 6 Being a Culture Architect What Kind of Organization Are You Willing to Create?

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: d10eb50fab4ae596
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 1,445,925 bytes (1.379 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781394392162, 9781394392179, 9781394392186
• Pages: 266
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 369.37 minutes
• Total Words: 73,874
• Total Characters: 454,035
• Average Words per Page: 277.72
• Average Characters per Page: 1706.9

Most Frequent Words

people (459), team (354), it’s (332), safety (302), work (260), psychological (249), leaders (241), like (232), leadership (221), time (214), need (201), one (186), often (174), learning (167), don’t (162), teams (152), make (152), help (143), feel (143), feedback (132), way (129), better (123), without (123), culture (121), even (119), you’re (119), leader (118), performance (118), isn’t (117), things (116), want (115), others (114), good (113), change (106), real (105), something (105), new (102), build (97), instead (96), create (95), start (94), get (93), practice (92), also (90), high (87), know (81), shared (81), going (81), say (81), organization (80), courage (79), accountability (79), right (79), helps (77), environment (76), growth (76), take (76), focus (76), trust (76), clarity (75), what’s (75), behavior (75), learn (73), process (73), experience (72), thinking (72), working (71), together (70), see (70), lead (69), yourself (69), become (69), think (69), ask (65), moment (65), skills (64), enough (64), small (64), matters (63), didn’t (63), power (62), every (62), back (62), conversations (61), best (61), well (61), ideas (61), someone (61), everyone (60), shift (60), clear (59), conversation (59), moments (58), part (58), safe (58), innovation (57), first (56), creating (55), framing (55), critical (55).

PDF Download