Hey there,

In last week’s Build newsletter I looked at why systems win out over goals. This week it’s time to share three of the things I spotted recently that deserve a moment of your time.

1. Coaching and accountability in leadership​

Timothy Clark has a useful post on leadership, accountability and coaching. He sets out that as a leader, your main job is to help people grow. To enable this you need to give transfer ownership and critical thinking. The main way you help that happen is through coaching and accountability. His 3×3 matrix is a useful tool for leaders to be more deliberate.

My take: There’s so much leadership content around that I tend to skim over most of it. But this caught my eye and really got me thinking. It resonated because it captures simply the nature of leadership and gives clarity about how to lead people effectively in different contexts.

2. Your circle of competence​

Here’s a useful model from Farnam Street which sets out how we all have areas of expertise called our “circle of competence”. This is the zone where we operate with an advantage. We need to recognise the limits of your competence and avoid straying beyond them into places where others have the edge.

My take: I like this model as it’s a useful frame for discussions I have with founders to help them grow their self-awareness. The model enables them to more honestly appraise their own competence and see how other leaders might fit into their growing business. This also works well in team building and coaching settings

3. Why smart people miss obvious fixes​

Chris Laping talks about dealing with common problems in businesses. His premise is that focussing basic, obvious advice is usually the answer, not complicated solutions.

My take: 100% yes to this. As a founder it’s easy to get too close to the problem you’re grappling with. You know the backstory too well, you’re close to the details and it’s hard to zoom out. When things feel overly complicated, maybe that’s your cue to find a way to simplify and get a new perspective.

I rode my bike for 135 miles on Sunday. I love the reflective time cycling gives me. Next week’s Build will be about something I realised on my ride – that as leaders we too often over-estimate our own significance in outcomes.

Until next week, have a good one.

best,
-sw

ps one of my little side projects – Going Fractional – is a free five day email course telling the story of how I went from being a corporate exec to a fractional COO. It’s proving surprisingly popular. Seems a lot of people are looking to escape traditional working. It’s here.