The Limits of a Smart Perspective

The majority of leaders we studied and consulted with operate from a business smart or functional smart perspective. For these leaders, gaining a wiser perspective is a two-step process: acknowledging their smart perspective (and its limitations) and then broadening their perspective to overcome those limitations. Most leaders won’t be motivated to shift their perspective until they realize why remaining primarily in either the blue or the red zone is detrimental to their long-term personal and professional success. Consequently, we first examine in more detail how the perspective of blue zone leaders differs from that of leaders who tend to operate in the red zone.

Leaders who usually operate in the blue zone tend to have a great execution perspective—they focus on what can be done in the short term—which shapes entirely how they decide, act, and interact with others. Although this short-term perspective is their great asset—enabling them to fix problems that are concrete and immediate—it can also be their weakness. For instance, although leaders in the blue zone are open to others’ ideas, they tend to be selective and embrace only ideas that reinforce their own perspective. As a result, they may struggle to adopt and execute on innovative ideas that require them to stretch themselves beyond their comfort zone. Similarly, given their difficulty dealing with abstract concepts and long-term visions, these leaders may fail to perceive subtle signals that indicate a major shift in the external context and require them to radically revamp their execution plans.

Leaders operating in the red zone are, in contrast, visionaries who can see the big picture, formulate a long-term vision for their organization, and get others to line up behind that vision. Being entrepreneurial, they can quickly identify emerging trends and patterns and capitalize on new ideas. They spot opportunities for new businesses and products and swiftly act on them. However, their perspective can get clouded since they tend to focus on their uniqueness and tend to listen to advice that reinforces their perspective and ignore other critical input. As a result, sometimes they lose perspective and miss important opportunities because they are driven by a personal agenda that could override the broader interests of the organization. Subroto Bagchi, cofounder and chairman of Mindtree, an information technology consulting company, told us about an ambitious young finance executive in his organization who was in a hurry to become the company’s chief financial officer. Although the smart young man had all the right qualifications, he did not have the emotional maturity or discernment to be an effective CFO. Bagchi offered to mentor the young man and help him develop a wise perspective. But the young man could not wait and left Mindtree in search of a CFO position in another organization. Another weakness of business smart leaders is that while they can come up with a great vision, they may struggle to execute it, let alone take responsibility if the execution fails.

As you read these descriptions above, did you recognize the color of your own filters? In other words, do you tend to perceive the world as leaders in the blue zone do or as leaders in the red zone do? Revisit your self-assessment in chapter 1 and look at your perspective subscore. Have you built yet your wise leader perspective as a strength (subscore 13–15)? (If needed, redo the self-assessment in chapter 1 or you can go to fromsmarttowise.com for a more detailed assessment of your perspective.)

Now ask yourself: How would I view the world if I were to remove the filters that color or distort my perspective? How would I act differently if I were to be a wise leader and shift my perspective?