"Denial can blind."
This is a simple concept that has powerful ramifications. Denial can not only blind, it is a state of wanting to be blind.
The very nature of denial is not wanting to have to deal with reality, or what is. So people play a game of let's pretend. Let's pretend it isn't happening. Let's pretend things are different, etc.
In business this is a recipe for disaster. To deny something is happening, when it really is, is to keep a company from going forward. It can also keep someone from advancing in leadership. Leadership, by its very nature, is anti-denial. It faces what is really there, and even will look for it gladly, in order to deal with it.
Why would anyone in business leadership or management want to deny something is real? Most the time it's simply to cover their butts. They are trying not to have to face it by quietly disavowing it exists, or sweeping it under the rug in hopes it'll go away on its own ... that it's temporary. That's like playing Russian Roulette with a loaded pistol; it's going to happen!
The problem is in how we avoid being in denial. Sometimes the only way we can is to have people surrounding us that aren't "yes" people. They can be the most damaging, as they can tend to reinforce denial in order to please us.
Of course we want to go to our more irreverant people and get their input as well. They will tend to say it like it is, whether we want to hear it or not.
When it comes down to it, denial is combated mostly from listening to input from a variety of sources and seriously taking into account all sides of the equation. That's the best way to keep from being blindsided by unexpected problems that were really known about in the first place.
Denial can be beaten, but it usually takes others besides ourselves to defeat it. We need to make it easy for them to express their opinions freely so we can have our own checks and balances in place for us.
Other Andy Grove Resources:
Andy Grove's Rational Exuberance
The Digital Age . . . driven by the passion of Intel's Andrew Grove
The History and Influence of Andy Grove
Andy Grove enters new post-Intel role as activist capitalist
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