The first thing a leader needs to understand is how the organization is feeling – is it very proud of what it is achieving? And that’s a contact issue and a “smell” issue as you “go walkabout.”
The second thing you notice when things are going right is that people take more risks. People understand that we’re in a risk business. Capitalism is about taking risks and getting rewards. And the better the risks you can take, and the more risks you take that are rewarded, the better job you’re going to do. When an organization is defensive and not prepared to make mistakes and take risks, you’ve got a real problem. You can access the feeling about risk from the way people talk – are they becoming more open-minded to risk? Are they prepared to fail? Those are things that I love to hear within the organization. I also love to hear people encouraging one another to take risks and supporting each other’s risks within the organization. This is what I’m really looking for.
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