John Andrew's Thoughts

who should lead

Whether voting for elected officials, joining a new workplace, hiring a manager for your company, or choosing a school for your child, a part of life is choosing leaders—who will lead us and who will lead others. 


A great leader does no harm. An exceptional leader can change everything. Unfortunately, many unexceptional people aspire to power. 


So, who should lead? I've had the most luck with the following.


Productivity

They must have the highest output amongst their peer group. 


Clarity

They must have the clearest understanding of their peer group. 


Virtues

They must have personal principles that align with their work and mission.


Priority

They must place their mission above all else. 


Accuracy

They must have a track record of correct decision-making. 


What's most important to understand is what is not relevant. 


Do they have good hair, or are they funny? Is their resume impressive? Did they go to a good school or come from a good family? It may be helpful color, but it should not factor into the decision. 


Remember, you are choosing leaders, not pageant winners.

when the brilliant are wrong

I'm fortunate that most of my time is spent with very smart people. Their brilliance is magnified while operating within their realm of competence, where they are often correct. 


However, I've observed it's not uncommon for smart people to meander beyond their realm of competence under a misplaced faith in their abilities. In these scenarios, you watch smart people go from being correct to incorrect. 


The danger of incorrectness is that it is often paired with a state of delusion, in which the person has complete confidence in their opinion.


Smart people, who are incorrect and convinced of their delusion, have the unique ability to manipulate others in favor of their beliefs despite reality. An incredibly destructive phenomenon. 


If you work with brilliant people, my advice is that when faced with an opinion that you believe is wrong, take a moment, a day, a week, however long it takes, and question everything. 


And to the brilliant, you must consistently question your position, or else risk delusion and destruction.  

there are no valid excuses

For most of your life, there was some authority that decided right or wrong, ok or not ok, correct or incorrect.


This authority trained you that if you had a valid excuse, you would be forgiven for any wrong. 


Homework not done? Power went out? Valid


Once you progress to a certain level in life, there is no greater authority. There may be reasons you miss your goals, but you are ultimately responsible for the outcome, and no excuse can possibly be valid because there is no validator. 


Feature not shipped on time? Internet was out? 

The feature still didn’t ship on time. 


Didn’t hit sales goals? Marketing didn’t get you materials? 

You still didn’t hit your sales goals. 


 ____ ______ ______?  _____ ______ ______? 

Invalid.


Regardless of the reason, the reality remains unchanged. We operate in the real world, there is no greater authority, there is no validator, and there are no valid excuses.

live with it, or fix it

Life doesn’t always go to plan. Often times you make a mistake or are in a less than perfect situation. You aren’t happy in your relationship, your bedroom door creaks. You’re underperforming at work. Someone is mad at you, or you mistakingly said the wrong thing. 


Whatever it may be, it is a drag on what your life could be, creating small stresses that compound into unhappiness. 


I’ve found that people get stuck with these less than ideal situations for a very long time, living between the two mental states of doing something or doing nothing. I believe that if you remove this purgatory as an option, you can live a happier life. That decision in this context must be an either-or — live with it, or fix it? 

filtering ambition through experience

Positive change rarely comes by accident. It’s the byproduct of hard work and sacrifice by large groups of people, driven by truly ambitious leaders. However, rarely are these leaders subject matter experts in every aspect of their endeavor. 

Mark Zuckerberg had no experience running operations, but Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's COO did. 

Elon Musk had no experience in Space Exploration, but SpaceX's President and COO Gwynne Shotwell did. 

Examples of visionaries filtering their ambition through experience are present across every truly impactful organization. From presidencies to leading companies. 

There are also many examples when ambition wasn't filtered, for example in this pandemic you have world leaders pushing un-proven ideas. 

Keep in mind there is a difference between filtration and dilution. Dilution is often the case in stagnant or declining organizations.  

Great leaders are able to consistently filter their ambition through the experience of their team, driving impactful change. Bad leaders consistently do the opposite.