Jathan Janove, Chief Learning Officer & Master Coach
Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching
As a professional executive coach, as an amateur neuroscientist, and as an amateur behavioral economist, I assert the following: There is no such thing as a rational human being. We toggle between non–rational and irrational.
This means every one of us has blindspots. How we perceive ourselves is often very different than how we are perceived. This is why everyone I coach gets an immersion in listening skills as described in this column. Without effective listening skills, your blindspots won’t shrink; they’ll grow.
Leadership Blindspots
As someone who coaches senior leaders, I’ve observed that the blindspot problem for them is even worse. Why?
Leader to Subordinate – Interruption, interruption, interruption. Subordinate to Leader – No objection.
Leader to Subordinate – Blather, blather, blather. Subordinate to Leader – No interruption even when desperately needed.
Leader to Subordinate – I’ll say whatever is on my mind and take as long as I want to say it. Subordinate to Leader – I’ll hedge what I say to keep me safe and make it quick less the Boss gets annoyed.
Other examples:
I coached a CEO who revealed his blindspots when debriefing a recent board meeting.
He gleefully shared, “People always seem to agree with me in these meetings.”
I quipped, “Well, that’s one benefit of being CEO.”
A retired CEO came back to their company as a part-time consultant and told me, “I wonder if I’ve lost my sense of humor. I tell the same kind of jokes I told when I was CEO. But now no one laughs. What’s up?”
“Actually,” I said, “You haven’t lost your sense of humor. You can’t lose what you never had.”
I could go on and on. Everyone who’s been in a subordinate position knows what I’m talking about – even CEOs if they can still remember their prior jobs.
Blindspots. They make the most compelling case for coaching.
In every successful coaching engagement, the leader has had an a-ha moment – often multiple a-ha moments – when they learned of their blindspots.
Conversely, in coaching engagements that weren’t successful, the leader’s by far biggest blindspot was that they had blindspots.
It’s that simple – If you’re willing to acknowledge the possibility that you have blindspots, you’re coachable. If you don’t, you’re not.
PS: If you’d like to learn more about leadership and coaching tools and practices, click the Resources page on the MGSCC.net website.
Jathan Janove is a former attorney previously recognized by his State Bar as “Employment Lawyer of the Year.” Currently, he serves as Master Coach and Chief Learning Officer for Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching, a worldwide executive leadership coaching organization. He is the author, most recently, of The HR Renaissance: From Legal Guard to Growth Partner.
