Getting "the real"

A few days ago I had one of my signature genius ideas™. I couldn’t wait to tell my report Ruth about it. We’ve been battling this nasty issue for a while and I felt that I finally cracked it. I knew she would have been as excited as me to.

I literally hopped to Ruth’s desk and asked her if she had a few minutes to give me some feedback on my solution to our problem. She agreed enthusiastically. Great! She was excited!

Ruth started to listen with eyes wide open. As I went on, I could tell things were not going very well. Ruth was shriveling more and more into her chair. “What do you think?” I asked.

She sat silently and uncomfortably for what felt like an eternity. I could tell I would have not liked what was about to come out of her mouth. Ruth's next words? A polite but firm takedown of my genius idea, detailing its flaws with disarming precision.

She then looked at me, waiting for disappointment to show on my face. But it didn’t. I was actually grinning, and all I could say was: “Thank you! That was awesome.”

This episode reminded me of one of the golden rules of captainship.

This is especially true if the people giving you the real report to you or you are in a position of power compared to them.

Whenever people are willing to give you the real you have succeeded as a captain. Especially if it’s painful to hear. The fact that people are telling you the truth means that you have earned their trust.

The reason why I was grinning after Ruth demolished my idea is because I knew I had Ruth’s trust. That was a much better win for me as a captain than hearing that I was right.

-Ale

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