- Avoiding confrontation. Sometimes the stronger you are, the more you avoid confrontation. "I don't want to upset people," you say, but it may be that you fear losing control.
- Hiring great advisers, but not listening. It's difficult to change habits, which have been reinforced over time, but ignoring your most insightful colleagues isn't the answer.
- Not acknowledging when you're wrong. It's somewhat horrifying, initially to think, "If I'm wrong about this, I may be wrong about other things." It takes great strength to admit being wrong, but builds a strong team mentality and eliminates the protectionism that perpetuates mistakes.
- Not dealing with reality. Same situation -- if you can't handle one reality, others are sneaking up on you. Confront and deal with reality.
- Waiting too long to cut your losses. Your stick-to-it-iveness has served you well in many situations, but throwing good time, money and effort after bad won't always bring about turnaround.
- Dwelling on strategies without following through. While it's lovely to behold your strategy from afar, execution is key. Strategy is a process -- not ironclad marching orders -- that helps you move forward purposefully. Yes, you will find flaws, but can adapt and move on to success.
- Relying on analysis over instinct. Logic and reality don't always synch. The market moves fast, and over-reliance on analysis sometimes takes more time than you have.
- Trusting instinct over analysis. Yes, this contradicts the previous pitfall -- but either extreme can be disastrous. Let's face it: Desires and wishful thinking can distort your "gut feeling." Ground yourself in reality, without getting buried in analysis.
- Playing favorites. Rewarding "brown-nosers" might gratify your ego, and temporarily make your life easier, but will poison team dynamics and cost you talent and turnover.
- Mocking what you don't understand. Nobody knows everything, and taking the position of interested learner increases your knowledge and understanding. Dismissing new info as unimportant can mean missing huge opportunities.
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