Go Fire Yourself

Are you still the best person for the job? A recent article by Adam Bryant in Strategy+Business (READ IT HERE) provocatively challenges leaders to continually reassess their suitability for the role. The questions he suggests leaders contemplate is whether it is time to fire yourself.

Bryant proposes that “being able to assess your own work accurately is particularly important in this era of relentless disruption, given that simply maintain the status quo is a sure-fire strategy for falling behind.” Acknowledging that this can be a difficult thing to do, the article notes “we can become overly invested in the people we’ve hired and the initiatives or strategies we’ve launched.” It also notes that all too often “we look for clues that reinforce the smartness of our choices rather than constantly questioning them.”

A number of very interesting examples of leading global CEOs is shared, which is both illuminating and instructive on how this can be achieved. This process is considered an essential leadership skill.

To conclude the article Bryant suggests you think about who might replace you in your job and then consider “what steps might they take because they are not invested in everything you’ve done, that would make you think, why didn’t I do that?” An interesting challenge for us to consider.