How - Dov Seidman [154]
Wynn, and anyone in his position when a problem is found, had many ways he could have avoided taking action directly. Many of us have been on the receiving end of memos, e-mails, or delegated proclamations from the top of the organization giving us bad news about our jobs. But Wynn chose to deal with the problem head-on and directly. I asked him why he chose that road. “When you make a decision that you feel is the right decision for the long-term benefit of the enterprise, it still may be wrong,” he said. “It could explode in your face; it could be embarrassing, humiliating, or even catastrophic; but that is absolutely not an excuse for not making that decision, nor standing up for it in front of others. That’s probably at the heart of leadership.”
You can’t build a skyscraper like Wynn Las Vegas on a foundation that is not solid, or worse, that you “sort of believe” is solid. You can’t land a rocket in the Sea of Tranquility if you don’t know whether the surface is rock or powder. A leader needs to know, so a leader is rigorous about the truth of the present. The more rigorous you can be about the truth of your present condition—what is solid and what is not, what works and what malfunctions—the better you can pursue the future. A leader peels the onion to get to the truth, no matter how difficult or evanescent that truth may be. Leaders believe it is healthy to ask the tough questions, toss ideas back and forth, confront problems when they arise, and wrestle truth to the ground. Getting bad news, understanding what is broken, understanding what’s shaking, understanding where the house of cards is and where real killers of the future lurk. To make your visions reality, you must not be afraid to see everything there is to see.
The opposite of rigorous truth means indulging some blind spots or living in a state of plausible deniability and superficiality, a habit that leaders should banish from their thinking and approach. Leaders must know how solid is the foundation before they take leaps, build skyscrapers, and innovate, and be rigorous about the journey along the way.
Be Reflective, Especially about Your Own Nature
As much as most of us relish conditions of harmony, simplicity, synthesis, and coherence, nowhere do they exist at all times. Even monks who live on mountains have to struggle to get a decent meal now and again (though they produce much spiritual calm, their P&Ls leave something to be desired). More often, our world is full of conflict, complexity, and ambiguity. To become a person capable of getting your HOWs right, of focusing not just on the WHAT of the outcome, but simultaneously on the HOW you do WHAT you do, you must learn to feel comfortable within these conditions. To be self-governing means to be reflective, especially about your own nature.
Our virtues are typically our vices. Lawyers are trained to argue and tend to win a lot of arguments. People disposed to winning arguments, however, often face a challenge in the realm of personal relationships, because relationships are rarely about winning or losing. So seeing through the lens of HOW, a lawyer devoted to strengthening her synapses with others reflects: When do I talk too much? When do I listen? When am I argumentative? When am I zealously advocating? Am I enlisting? Am I not? Is the Wave really happening? Are people really getting up because they’re inspired or are they getting up because