Earlier this year Peggy Noonan wrote an article about President Obama’s new term: “Every new president starts out fresh, in part because he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. Ignorance keeps you perky.”
The months since have shown that running a government is more challenging than running a campaign. Though you and I are not seeking to be the leader of the free world, Noonan’s point can be translated to those who strive to deliver projects and lead teams. When we first take over a project or team, our optimism may be based on ignorance. What is it that we don’t know?
This all comes to mind as I prepared for my podcast interview next week with Michael Roberto, author of Know What You Don’t Know: How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen.
In the book, Professor Roberto essentially tells us that leaders must first hone their skills as problem-finders, not just problem-solvers. He offers very practical advice on how leaders can overcome the many barriers that make it a challenge to discover problems earlier instead of reacting to them later when the consequences can be much more severe.
The podcast episode is not scheduled to be published until late October but I invite you to get your copy of Michael’s book now and enjoy the interview when it comes out.
In addition, here’s an article that Michael just recently published that will give you a taste for what’s in store.
Here’s to us all becoming better problem-finders!
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