Andersen - Be Bad First

M y client was clearly not happy.

I cant get my folks to think beyond what theyre doing now! he said, exasperated. At my inquiring look, he continued, I asked everyone on my senior team to come up with one big new ideasomething they thought could really move the business forward. And most of them just repeated back to me some variation of their existing goals. I dont know what to do to get them thinking differently.

A year into his new job as CEO of a media company just coming out of bankruptcy, he had already made sweeping changes: he completely revamped the senior team, spun off an underperforming division, and invested in a small part of the business where he saw future potential. His big frustration? Figuring out how to get his folks to follow him into the unknown, to be willing to experiment, to try new things.

I imagine theyre worried about being badand having you see them as bad, I replied.

He seemed puzzled.

These people are good at their jobs, I went on, and they believe youve hired them or kept them on because theyre good at their jobs. They feel highly competent, even expert, and that makes them confident and comfortableespecially in this organization thats undergoing so much change. I leaned forward. And now youre asking them to learn brand-new ways of operating, to suggest things theyve never tried, to, perhaps, fail publicly. Youre asking themthese middle-aged expertsto risk going back to being novices to look dumb, to make mistakes, to not know how to do things. And its enormously uncomfortable for them. Theyre resisting it by focusing on what they know theyre good at and what they feel comfortable doing.

His face cleared. This particular executive, unlike most people, is okay with the discomfort of trying new things in public. Making mistakes and having to ask I-dont-know-what-that-means kinds of questions usually doesnt bother him much.

So I need to encourage them to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, he said, starting to smile.

Exactly, I said. You need to let them know that not having everything perfectly mapped out is okay, and that you expect that some of their new ideas wont work. Most importantly, they have to know that you truly see trial and error as an inevitable part of breaking new ground. Its your responsibility to support them in becoming as comfortable as possible with the terribly awkward reality of exploring and understanding new ideas and new skills. You have to knowand let them know that you knowthat to get good at anything thats new to you, you have to be willing to be bad at it first.

And thus the title of this book. You may get tired of me saying this over and over again, but its the core of what well be talking and thinking about throughout this book, and its a surprisingly unrecognized aspect of modern life. Because each one of us today is faced, moment to moment, with an overwhelming flood of information and possibilities that are brand new to us, we have to learn to be okay with being continuously uncomfortable in a way that no one in previous generations has had to do. As my client so wisely said it, we have to learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

I feel compelled to take a pause and do a bit of mind reading here. I believe you may, right at this moment, be thinking,