Musings at Altitude

Some folks are always right.

Others often right.

A few are rarely right.

And a sad few are never right.

The best leaders I have worked for are folks that are often right, but I’ve never worked for someone that was always right.

I have worked for several people that were rarely right, and unfortunately, each of them thought they were always right.

I completely enjoyed the times that I worked with leaders and peers that were often right, because most of them were open to input and then adjusted when they were wrong to be right.

I stayed extremely disgusted when I worked for folks who were mostly wrong but thought they were always right.  The decisions made and the resultant consequences led to rework at an extraordinary level, and they led to customer relationship challenges that customer centric folks just shouldn’t have to deal with.

Being right is about having the right answers all of the time or even some of the time.

Being right is about having the courage and humility to work with others in a way that the best answer for any given situation is arrived at and then supported by all on the team.

And being right is about understanding when you don’t have the right answer and admitting that you need help to get to whatever that right answer may be.

Of the many leaders I’ve worked for in my nearly 50 years of life, the ones I’ve cherished the most are those who welcomed input, sought out the right answers to the tough situations we may have been in, and ultimately admitted when a decision once made may not have resulted in the perfect outcome.

I hope I’m that way.

I’m certainly not bright enough to be right from the very beginning.