# The Thinking Executive By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2024-03-21 Most organizational executives do not think, but they are excellent at making you think they do. They achieve this in two ways. First, they hold positional power that grants them access to privileged information. Thus, the executive can always say to a subordinate, "I appreciate your perspective, but other things happening behind the scenes invalidate your conclusion." As the worker, it is nearly impossible to argue with this as one's role limits what one can know, so it is impossible to refute whether the executive is truthful, stupid, or both. This executive mystique shadows all complex organizational issues and promotes a lack of thinking, as the executive always has an excuse. One may argue that the executive's peers could refute the executive, and one would be right. Except executives are also divided into neat little information silos, and politics weigh heavily. Moving against another is rarely a matter of truth and rationality. The second way executives make you believe they are thinkers is by assigning their subordinates to do all the thinking for them. It's counterintuitive, but it relates to the mystique argument. Executives who assign one to look into many different things and report back make one feel like the executive must be looking for something to solve a particular hard problem. This implies that thinking occurs within the executive's head, but the opposite happens. Instead of diligently considering what should be done, they pass it along without thought. If one has worked for such an executive or manager, one will eventually realize how little they think. Instead, it's just endless and incoherent wild goose chases based on the whims of the latest social media post or a pitch by a desperate sales representative. This is not thinking. This is doing without thinking. Because of the mystique and positional power, the worker is left powerless to improve the situation. An executive who thinks lets you in on the game and rational. An executive who thinks has clear priorities but creates an environment where one can tell them they are wrong, and they listen. An executive who thinks spends less time talking and more time listening. An executive who thinks doesn't want to be an executive at all, which is why so few are thinkers #### Related Items [[Executives]] [[Thinking]] [[Power]] [[Asymmetry]] [[Work]] [[Leadership]] [[Management]]