Years ago, the CEO of a large company asked me to coach his potential successor. The candidate was intelligent, hardworking, and dedicated. He was also seen as unnecessarily stubborn and opinionated.
As we reviewed his 360-degree feedback, his first comment was, “But Marshall, that is wrong!”
“That one is free,” I said with a smile. “The next time you start a sentence with ‘no,’ ‘but,’ or ‘however,’ it will cost you $20. Which will be donated to the charity of your choice.”
“But…” he replied.
“That is $20.”
“No, I don’t…” he continued.
“That is $40.”
“No, no, no…”
“That is $60, $80, $100…”
By the end of two hours, he had lost more than $400.
At the end of the session, he said, “Thank you. I did that over 20 times- with you pointing it out. How many times would I have done it if you had not been fining me?”
Then he paused. “No wonder people think I am stubborn. The first thing I do when people talkl to me is prove I am right and they are wrong.”
Eighteen months later, he was seen as a much moreopen-minded, and a more effective leader.
You may not think that YOU have this bad habit. Have someone start monitoring you. You may be very surprised!
Life is good.
Marshall
Please visit
MarshallGoldsmith.ai. You can learn a lot about what to do as a leader - and what to stop.