Fresh Eyes and No Emotional Attachment

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Stuck?  Can’t figure out why?  Or maybe, you can see what needs to change, but you can’t figure out how to even begin.

Andy Stanley makes a great point in a talk from the Drive conference where he quoted something that Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel said to Gordon Moore, when they were stuck at Intel.  Grove said, “If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what would he do?  Why shouldn’t we walk out, come back in and do it ourselves?”

Sounds good doesn’t it?  Logical?  What keeps us from doing that?  What keeps you from doing that?

I think there are really two things.  First, sometimes we know what needs to be done but we have an emotional attachment to the way it’s being done now.  And then second, there are just times where we’re so close to it that we can’t really even see the issues.

The key?  Bring in someone with fresh eyes and no emotional attachment.  I play that role sometimes.  You might have someone else in mind.  The main thing is to act on the idea.  You’ll be glad that you did.

You can find out more about the consulting work that I do right here.  You can also listen in to a portion of Andy Stanley’s talk right here.

 

2 Comments

  1. Myersbaker on May 9, 2012 at 11:52 am

    I like the way the new CEO scenario helps open your eyes to see what needs to change. But it is not as helpful in making the changes. The new CEO would do exactly what the board hired her to do. The challenge is making needed changes when “stuck” resides in the board and you are the CEO who sees the need.



  2. Anonymous on May 9, 2012 at 2:51 pm

    You’re making a good point that in some cases (largely depending on the polity of the congregation and who is actually leading), there are times when a pastor can know what to do and the board would have a different idea. In those cases, it would be the leader’s assignment to help the board come to the same new awareness. Easy? No. Essential? In a Parable of the Talents sense…yes.

    mark