The Point: So you say you want to move forward with your business idea. However, this business idea is gaining little/no traction with your leadership, as well as your stakeholders. So what’s a poor leader to do in order to regain focus, direct organizational attention, and achieve desired results? In this post we’ll take a look at the concept of orthogonal and how fully grasping independence probability thinking just might make the difference in executing one tip… Enjoy!
The Orthogonal Leader
Leading in times when decisions are agreed upon is a relatively easy task… Other leaders and organizational stakeholders typically fall inline when decisions are met favorably. However, what happens when decisions are made and they are not so favorable? What happens then to the initiative? What happens to the organization? What happens to the leader?
Orthogonal is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as being statistically independent. A play on independence probability theory further reflects that the occurrence of one does not affect the probability of the other. In other words, this independence of thought, implementation, and results occurs without impact on other moments.
The Ability to Forget
I worked with a leader an in executive coaching engagement as part of a leadership development program at their company. The leader was super smart, had attended the best schools, and was able to comprehend/process huge sums of data instantaneously which afforded him a significant competitive advantage to his peers (If you don’t believe that leadership roles are a competitive battlefield, you probably aren’t leading at the tip of the spear!)
Above all else, this leader was gifted with what could be called an extremely short memory… He would forget what happened a few minutes prior in assessing the current opportunity/problem that was staring him down. I believe that in other leadership development and in working with other executive coaches this was seen as a “downside” to this candidate for future career advancement. However, what he lacked in memory he soon used to his advantage, as he was able to assess without predetermined outcomes or biases.
The Leadership Challenge Orthogonal Tip #1
So if you want to get the most out of yourself, your stakeholders, and your organizations sooner or later your going to have to make decisions that aren’t popular. As a matter of fact, they might be so unpopular that they go against the grain of previous business decisions. However, in so doing, you’ll be looking for other key performance indicators that can/should/will be measured to determine effectiveness. While these moments will differ from others previously collected, the leadership challenge at hand calls for strategic planning to be made on an independent level. In so doing, results will be achieved (although different, or independent of previous ones).
SUMMARY
Orthogonal might be seen as a key for leadership strategic planning. Too much “sameness” often times lack the innovative moments that could be grasped. Full potential is seen as a far-off destination, with little/no hope of being achieved. So forget what you’ve done in the past and look to make solid decision making in order to lead forward.
Sam Palazzolo
