I wanted to follow-up an earlier blog by reminding everyone
not to surround themselves with "Yes-men" (or women). 
You need individuals within your core leadership
team that will challenge your ideas. Not
to the point of being disruptive or insubordinate, but in way that forces you
to think through a variety of scenarios and possible outcomes as a result of
your decision. You still won't make the right decision every time, but you're
far more likely to have positive results if you seek out the honest advice/counsel
of others.
If everyone around you always agrees with every decision you
make then that's a huge problem. Tough decisions often result in change and
change is tough. If you run your organization like a dictator and surround
yourselves with "bobble-heads", always nodding in agreement then, you're likely
headed towards a major fall.
Sometimes when trying to make a point in a blog you struggle
to find the perfect illustration. Well yesterday this story hit the news wires
and I couldn't have said it better myself.
The headline says it all "Teachers stage fake gun attack on
kids".
My first thought was how could a group of qualified 6th grade teachers decide this was a
good idea? The keyword being "group". I
do not know the teachers involved but I would think it's safe to assume that
this is a clear case of "Yes-man" or "GroupThink" in which a strong leader
devises a plan and everyone around that person simply nods their head in
Orwellian obedience
Do yourself a favor and surround yourself with other strong leaders, if only to save yourself, and your organization, from a big mistake.
Curtis S