PhotoCredit: CatchingDreams
There is a dreadful term "Failing Up" which describes a rather mediocre talent that has managed to survive their way to the top of an organization. They are not as good as their job title might imply. It's an imposter-syndrome worrier's worst nightmare.
Typically someone with imposter syndrome is going to be the last person who has failed up. Most people with imposter syndrome have succeeded. They have tackled some really complex problems, likely really struggled in the pursuit, and deserve to be at the top.
There are a lot of companies tackling a lot of hard problems at the moment. Hard problems in an ever-changing environment. Having any certainty about the correctness of your decisions feels impossible. It may, in fact, be impossible. So, I wonder, do those who have failed up have an equal chance at being right to those who succeeded up? Is being right for the wrong reasons something that might work in this environment?
From a probability standpoint this might hold true but, following on from the OODA conversation last week, there has never been a more critical time to "show your work." We need to know more than the right answer. We need to build up the logic and reasoning sitting under the conclusions we reach, knowing that we will likely not hit the bullseye on the first try.
And it occurs to me that it might feel personal. And we need to get over that. We need to find new ways to question the incredible work of our teams so they feel stretched but not stomped on. We also need to work on our reflexes so that we are not injured, inadvertently, in the quest for a gold star and a pat on the back.
Plain and simple, we might just feel from time to time that we did a massive amount of work for nothing. What was the point sweating the right decision? It might feel like just plain failing, no up in sight. The power, always in my view but especially now, is in the process. You are succeeding by doing the work, doing the analysis, coming to a conclusion. You don't need to be right for it to be a success.
The feedback, the questions - what feels like criticism - those are invaluable inputs. Explore, be curious, evolve your work. And then come right back and ask for more. Being right was never more wrong.