Stephen H Baum Leadership

THE BAD HABIT

Every once in awhile, one of my CEO clients will reveal she or he has regressed in a behavior in which they have dramatically improved over time. Sometimes it is being dictatorial when another style would get better results, sometimes it is allowing their attention to be diverted from what they know is the most important topic at the time to one of less importance (the “shiny object syndrome.” Or it may be reverting to an emotional response to a trigger they have already recognized and addressed. Why is this an issue for such smart and capable people?

THE ROOT CAUSE

In today’s New York Times, researchers Eyal ERT and Eldad Yechiam observe from playing card experiments that some people appear to be more risk-seeking but it is a nuance that drives the behavior: lack of self-control, aka inability to deny immediate gratification. They cannot resist selecting the option that gives a very large reward once in a blue moon but results in a overall loss in the longer term.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/opinion/sunday/why-smokers-still-smoke.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

Years ago the Stanford University “marshmellow test” with longitudinal studies was used to demonstrate that children with better postponement of immediate gratification did better in life later on.

THE REMEDY

Nobody I know is perfect in this respect. The remedy must be to accept some frequency of this behavior, but to work on limiting its expression to low-stakes situations and to understand the circumstances that drive it (stress, perceived time constraints, others with whom it happens repeatedly).

That’s my view. What’s yours?