Leadership: Preparation and Anticipation

I think the "kiss of death" for any leadership career aspirations is to become known as someone who does not prepare well. During my time at Intact, I can tell you that as senior leaders there were few things worse than "not knowing your numbers" or being surprised by questions you should have anticipated.  It happened to me a few times and I quickly decided this is not the best way forward!

Sometimes when I interviewed people for senior jobs it became apparent that they "prepared" by learning all about our company. Not bad. They would use every opportunity (however contrived) to work in the facts they had learned. But then I would ask an obvious question: "What achievement in your current role makes you most proud?" and a shaky, poorly thought-out answer would follow. Are you kidding? You didn't think that question was coming? You didn't prepare for that question, because you didn't anticipate that question.  

And this is the crux of the matter, you need to be able to anticipate in order to prepare effectively.  It's no different when preparing for a key presentation, a sales pitch or a budget defense.  You start by putting yourself mentally in the shoes of your audience and figuring out from their point of view what the key questions, issues and worries will be and base your preparation exactly on that. Much like a pilot reviewing the flight plan before take-off, anticipate first, prepare accordingly and you will have the best chance for success.