[CEO] — synthesized: “A good assessment, but I don’t see the problems you describe. I see the problems I can see. You should focus on the problems I can see.”

A front-line manager’s job is to take the time to understand and adapt to the current situation. For a new senior leader, you are the situation. Chances are, your boss and your senior peers are in the middle of it. They are smack dab in the center of the chaos, and while their perspective is relevant, it’s blurred by history and chaos. One of your immense fading advantages as the new senior leader at the table is that you have no history in this current chaos, yet. You have fresh perspective that has not been beaten into submission by the chaos.

— Rands in Repose, Here’s The Rub: We Don’t Believe You