EXECUTIVE INTELLIGENCE
Fonte: Menkes, Justin (2005). Executive Intelligence. New York: Executive Intelligence Group, p. 105.Why Is Executive Intelligence So Rare? The multitude of existing leadership theories has confused and distracted us from focusing on key performance criteria. As a result, we have a managerial population that as a whole is weak in Executive Intelligence. Surveys have shown that 80 percent of executives feel that their peers frequently fail to achieve their objectives, and half of those surveyed had no confidence that their colleagues could ask for the appropriate questions needed to take proper action. Prominent leadership experts have consistently cited poor executive judgment as the most important factor in corporate failures. Too many business leaders take action without thinking and are completely unaware of the costs of this tendency. Critical thinking has become synonymous with "paralysis by analysis," while taking immediate action has been mistakenly characterized as a uniformly positive practice. Speed itself is not a prerequisite for good decisions; it is choosing the appropriate speed for a given situation that is one of the most essential components of executive decision-making. Executives often take immediate action, groping their way toward a solution through trial and error, and such action-first behavior is generally encouraged and even rewarded. Asking the right questions when facing a complex decision is no more time-consuming than asking the wrong ones.
