Who Else Needs To Know - 2

Sometimes we need to relearn the lessons of the past. In recent weeks, I've been coordinating efforts across several organizations to get witnesses to a specific event for signatures. About a week out I received an email from one of the representatives asking if I had contacted Richard...

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Oops. Richard is a representative of a one of the organizations whose signature MAY be required. Now, I had discussed the event with him, provided a tentative window, and even shared the plans for the event; however, he did not receive a formal invitation to the event.

Fortunately, I got lucky. He did not need to witness the event, and in fact considered it outside of his scope; however I cannot always count on luck.



Near the beginning of my experience as a blog writer, I shared a story about a general's helicopter landing, culminating with the lesson to ask "Who Else Needs To Know?"

Now, most people will not admit that they made the same mistake twice. However, again, I learned this lesson (albeit nearly 10 years apart). Perhaps this time it will stick?

Leaders continue to get lost (or maybe mired) in the day to day activities of our jobs. Sometimes we get busy with our own plans and forget to stop and check to determine what we might have missed. "Who Else Needs To Know?" is only one of several questions to ask. Perhaps in a future update, I will provide a list as a starting point.

In the meantime, ask yourself what are you doing in your capacity as a leader, and who else should know about it?