67. Why do we fail?

Why is it hard to pick winners from losers in a job interview?

Why do some plausible and seemingly capable leaders fail catastrophically?

There’s a surprisingly fine line between failure and success and it’s hard to see.

Especially if you only look quickly.

Bad behaviors are easy to see at the extremes.

Shouting, indecision, abuse, isolation, irrational behavior.

The seeds of failure are often well hidden behind a friendly & confident face.

A single behavior doesn’t cause failure (or success!) but a pattern of behavior does.

Small traits, consistent and uncorrected, lead to big results.

A person doesn’t get overweight by eating one big meal.

They don’t get fit by going once to the gym.

Patterns are only visible over time.

Which explains why some poor leaders can survive so long when their bosses aren’t watching them closely.

Or why some teams achieve success despite frequent failures.

If patterns of behavior matter so much, then so too is frequent engagement between leaders and teams.

Not just to see what people are doing but to let them see what you do and know your thinking.

What’s important?

A team doesn’t miss a full year target by having a bad week.

A successful project isn’t delivered because one part came in on time.

“A spiral is just a small deviation sustained over time…”

This is also why a leader’s mission, purpose and values are vital.

Those “North Stars” (there are always more than one) don’t just give direction, but create immediate tension when those small deviations happen.

And motivate correction. To stop patterns forming.

Do you have an objective that you’re just not achieving ?

Is there a single thing that needs to change?

Or is pattern of behavior influencing that?

It could be a small thing. Not extreme or highly visible.

Are you close enough to what’s happening to see the patterns?

The reason we fail is the same reason we succeed.

Your patterns of behavior are a good indicator of your true values or priorities, or true objectives.

Or capabilities.

Not what you say, what you repeatedly do.

Please think about them.