Here’s an overview of all the abilities we’ve looked at over the past week:

• The ability to clearly define objectives and key metrics
• The ability to design for change
• The ability to seek advice from others
• The ability to take the time to think
• The ability to be non-judgmental
• The ability to be hypercritical
• The ability to be patient

A couple of thoughts after spending some time with this topic and reviewing all the abilities:

We take not nearly enough time to think strategically. And that’s really bad, because everyone benefits from a well thought out strategy. Especially decisions with more impact could use more of our attention and thought. We spend too much time focussing on the short term, where it can be a big time saver to step back and review the future.

We are too hard on new and still developing ideas. Because we want to speed up processes, we kill off thoughts often and early. This is just my observation, so you might have a completely different experience. While there could be good reasons to speed up, it is at least something to be more aware of.

We can spend more time in critical thinking mode, and should encourage others to do so too. While it is good to switch off your critical mind from time to time, when we’re with our team we should be at the top of our game and challenge each other to be as critical as we can. If you’re not doing it, the people using your product or service will.

If you’re not asking others for advice from time to time, you’re missing out. You are smart, but you don’t know everything. Surround yourself with smart people you can learn from and you’ll grow. Even stronger: I believe all important decisions benefit from asking the perspective of a smart person around you.