Good Reading

I know it's been awhile since I last blogged here. A lot has happened. Instead of being an IT Manager turned Sys Admin, I can now add "turned IT Manager" to the end of it. I changed jobs, to something much more suited to my abilities. I learned something. It's good to know what you're good at, but it's much more important to know what you're not good at.  Being responsible for a job you suck at isn't a lot of fun.

I'm reading a book by Steven B. Sample called The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership. Really good stuff in the book so far. The beginning is about "binary thinking", thinking things are black and white, making quick judgments based on what you know is right or wrong, vs. "grey thinking", which is basically reserving judgment until you've had time to think things through and get all the information. It also involves being able to see both sides of an issue and yet still make a decision.

Who would have thought there was a term for the ability to see both sides of the story? It drives me insane because I can so often see problems from opposing positions, and it makes it much more difficult to decide things. It's much easier when your opinion falls squarely on one side or the other. I always thought sitting on the fence was a bad thing. I guess not really.

Of course, the book goes on to state that grey thinking is only crucial in important situations, and if one thinks grey all the time, one's brain will become a jumbled mess. So there it is. My brain is a jumbled mess.

In all seriousness, I think it's important for leaders, especially big decision makers, to suspend judgment until there is enough evidence that leans in one direction or the other. There are certainly times when an instant decision is necessary, but in those instances where it's not, it's better to wait.

A very good book, so far. I'm going to keep reading.