What To Ask The Person In The Mirror

Summary

Successful leaders understand that leadership is a smaller amount typically

concerning having all the answers—and a lot of typically concerning asking the
correct queries. The challenge lies in having the ability to step back, reflect, and
raise the key questions that are essential to your performance and your
organization’s effectiveness. In What to Ask the Person in the Mirror, Harvard
business school professor and business leader Robert Kaplan presents a method
for asking the massive questions that may enable you to diagnose issues, change
course if necessary, and advance your career.
Review
Ask the Big Questions to Boost Your Success
Great leaders do not have all the answers, but according to Harvard Business
School professor Steven Kaplan. In fact, they may be as confused, discouraged
and unsure of themselves and their choices as the rest of us. The difference,
Kaplan writes in his book What to Ask the Person in the Mirror, is that good
leaders can take a step back and meet any kind of challenges they face by asking
the correct questions. They formulate these questions in a manner that helps
frame the key problems at the centre of the challenge.
Seven Lines of Inquiry
Based on his extensive experience operating with leaders around the world,
Kaplan, the previous vice-chairman of Goldman Sachs, has identified seven sets of
questions that lie at the center of leadership success in each business and non-
profits.
The first line of inquiry revolves around vision and priorities. Leaders should ask
themselves if there's a clear and defining vision for the organization, as well as
focused priorities for achieving that vision. Kaplan notes that a leadership group
might not realize that there are conflicting visions within the group that are
creating unnecessary issues and challenges.
Priorities and vision emerge once more within the second set of Kaplan's
questions for leaders, that is concerning about time management. The primary
step is for leaders to assess how they spend their time — several leaders have not
really given this question much thought. The second step is to evaluate whether
or not the time spent matches the priorities of the organization.