We get so engrossed in our profession and work, that we don’t take time to “think.” As a leader that is one of our most important responsibilities, some quiet time to reflect, ponder the future and clear out the mind webs.
Here is a suggestion that has worked for me over the years.
Bring someone in once in a while “to help you think.” No, not an employee or someone who reports to you, that may tell you what you want to hear. Go outside the organization and engage an opposite of you. I am a pragmatist and I need someone who can theorize and stretch me.
At Southwest Airlines and at Braniff International, I utilized the brain and thinking powers of Dr. Don Beck, a former University Professor in Texas. He is an academic, a very strategic thinker and from an entirely different background than me. I would pose the question and he would go off and ponder it and come back with a proposed alternative or solution. It worked time and again.
And today, we are still friends and stay in contact with each other. If you don’t have time to think, bring someone in to help you think.
What are other strategies have you tried to schedule time for reflection or strategizing?
Howard Putnam speaks on leadership, change, transformation, customer service, teams and ethics. He is the former CEO of Southwest Airlines and the first CEO to take a major airline, Braniff International, into, through and out of Chapter 11, getting it flying again in less than two years.
