Leadership Isn't For Cowards: How to Drive Performance by Challenging People and Confronting Problems

Chapter 11

When Are You Ready?

Please stop short of answering that question with “Well, you just know!” As I hope you realize by now, if you tried to say that, I would jump off the pages of this book and shake you! (I wish the laws of metaphysics made it that easy.)

There are only two, maybe three, types of leaders in my experience: First, there are gunslingers who make gut decisions on the fly; second, there are those who love to mull over the facts and data; and finally, there are those who balance both. So, assuming you have managed to balance the two sides, as was suggested in the previous chapter, how do you know when you are ready to take action?

So many times, leaders and organizations spend too much time getting ready to be ready to get ready to almost get ready to be ready to get ready. Then, they form a committee or a task force (which is just a committee on steroids) to evaluate more and look into the situation more so that they can really be ready. Just how much getting ready does a leader need? What makes you think that if you are a little more ready, you are going to get results that are so much better?

You say, “But Mike, you emphasized at the beginning of this book that we are messing with people’s lives! Shouldn’t we take our time and make sure we are ready before we take action?” Great question. The answer is . . . well, sort of. Here’s the deal: You should know that taking too much time getting ready burns valuable resources and drags the organization down all ...