Perfectionism Will Slow You Down in a Crisis

Leaders succeed by holding themselves to a high bar, coming as close as they can to perfect. But in crisis and uncertainty, pursuit of perfection wastes valuable time and energy. Leading effectively means constantly toggling between seeing and understanding the big picture and zooming-in to focus on execution. This takes mental agility. Our minds, however, are hardwired in ways that make such agility a challenge. You can beat the challenge of distractibility by practicing the shift between focus and awareness; the challenge of our ego is overcome with conscious selflessness; and while the challenge of empathy can hold us back from doing what needs to be done, more constructive compassion enables us to go outside of ourselves to help others.