Word-Of-the-Week #735: Reliability
September 6, 2018 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #735: Reliability
Reliability –being dependable, responsible, and trustworthy.
Do you always do what you say you will? Can your co-workers, friends, & family count on you?
This week features “5 Characteristics of Good CEOs” by UT San Diego columnist Neil Senturia.
“So you want to be a CEO. All you need to be is charismatic, armed with an Ivy League degree and larger than life. Wrong. It turns out that definition is in the very small minority and is at best an urban legend. No riding in on a white horse, smartest guy in the room with all the answers.
Elena Botelho, Wharton MBA, leads the CEO genome research project at ghSmart, and her most recent findings (after a 10-year study) suggest that the road to the top is actually more available to just us regular folks – if we practice four distinct characteristics: Make decisions quickly, be relentlessly reliable, manage human relationships well and adapt swiftly to changing circumstances.
- Make decisions quickly.
Botelho quotes Jeff Bezos from Amazon who writes in a shareholder letter that decision making is “quality times velocity.” He cites Day Two companies who make good decisions, but make them too slowly. My personal caution to this is from my favorite economist Daniel Kahneman, whose book, “Thinking Fast and Slow,” carefully delineates which decisions can be made rapidly and which need more time. Going really fast over a cliff is not going to get you there.
- Reliability.
Interesting characteristic, we all think we are reliable, but the research points to an additional feature of the CEO. Botelho writes, “they have a desperate hunger to be counted on.” In sports, it is the mantra of the fielder who wants the ball hit to him. It is self-perpetuating. I want to be counted on so that I can continue to exhibit reliability so I can be counted on even more.
- Manage relationships.
This argues for keen self-awareness. One of my mantras is that all CEOs should have at least two years of psychotherapy. The example from Botelho is a symphony orchestra conductor. This person understands the intention of the music, has a vision, and an interpretation, and knows the instruments and the musicians. Thus, they can create the music. The conductor is not there to be loved, but he needs to be respected so that others will follow. That’s why he has the baton.
- Fast learner. Adaptability.
My favorite example is from my sailboat racing. Tack on the wind shifts. It is important to look up the course, see the wind and anticipate the shift. Innovation is nice, but rapid adaptability proves to be more important.
And I am adding a fifth characteristic.
- Own your mistakes.
The best leaders mine their mistakes. It is often said by the venture capitalists that they want to invest with a founder who has recently had a failure – if they were introspective enough to acknowledge the mistakes and learn from them. So there you have it. No Stanford degree required.
Do you have a desire to become the CEO? How about being promoted? These 5 characteristics can surely help make that happen.
This week’s focus is on reliability. How would you rate yourself on being responsible and dependable? Would your co-workers, friends, and family agree, as well as saying you are trustworthy?
I LOVE feedback! Join my Facebook community on my FUN-damentals Fan Page.