If Facts are Brutal, Why Confront Them?

What a strange week. Interesting month… but strange week. Hurricane Irene had her way with us here in the North East over the weekend. Only after a 5.8 earthquake in Virginia shook us all up a little last Tuesday. As the month draws to an end, I realized I needed to finish-up the 4^th Chapter of Good to Great. After I rushed through it, I felt like I wanted to read it again. It really was a great chapter. Although I liked the title, the content supported it fairly well. Confront the Brutal Facts. Awesome. But, who really does this? Corporate-wise anyway. Some of us do in our personal lives and relationships. Many of us do not. I understand why it is difficult. It is not easy realizing the error of one’s ways. We fear being rejected or judged. This is why I particularly liked the sub-section on autopsies without blame.

If I had a room full of people, and asked: “Who would like to listen to what I have to say?”, not many hands would go up. However, if I asked: “Who would like to be heard?”... More than likely, everyone would raise their hand. Jim points out how good to great companies actually had a culture in which people have a tremendous opportunity to be heard. Wait a minute. Doesn’t that sound a bit like Habit 5 again? This time, from the point of view of the Company. That is, the Corporation needs to understand and listen first to their employees. This may not be what most of us are used to. We usually listen to what the company has to say – then we follow. So, how is it that a Corporation benefits from listening to its employees? Creating an environment where the truth is heard. Simple, yet powerful. Think about it.

Everyone knows I am a big enthusiast of our use of imagination and its practical uses in creating vision and setting goals. In this chapter, Jim Collins starts the 2^nd section with the title Facts are better than dreams. It may seem to contradict my love for imagination, but facts are grounded in reality – terra firma. Whether one is right or wrong matters not. Facts are facts. It is impossible to argue with them. I believe we would both agree that vision is important for leadership. However, remember Colin Powell’s quote: “Vision without action is hallucination”. No doubt, the action part must come into play and address the facts that the vision may otherwise overlook. Jim highlights “good to great companies continually refined the path to greatness with the brutal facts of reality”. Not by being optimistic or charismatic or trying to motivate people. Furthermore, he states the “the key is not to de-motivate”. Speaking of de-motivation, check these out for a good laugh: Demotivators 

Jim states:

“..the single most de-motivating actions you can take is to hold out false hopes, soon to be swept away by events”