Minutes Regarding Leadership Lesson Extraction
Leadership lesson extraction is the practice of converting a specific sequence of events into a universal principle that can be applied to future situations that may or may not resemble the original.
SUBJECT: Forensic Analysis of Leadership Lesson Extraction: Review of Three Cases
Leadership lesson extraction has been observed in three cases from the past eighteen months. Each case follows a similar pattern. A specific event occurs. The event is processed. The processing yields a formulation that converts the specific event into a general principle. The general principle is retained, shared, or published.
The cases are reviewed here without attribution.
Case 1
A project was delayed because one stakeholder's input arrived three weeks late. The delay was unpleasant and ultimately inconsequential. The lesson extracted: "Always align stakeholders before beginning any work." The lesson is reasonable. It does not account for the fact that the delay was caused by one stakeholder under unusual personal circumstances who has not repeated the behavior. The lesson is now applied to every project, including projects with no external stakeholders.
Case 2
A hiring decision produced a good outcome. The candidate had an unconventional background. The lesson extracted: "Look past the resume." The lesson is not wrong. It is also not what determined the outcome. The outcome was determined by a specific conversation in the second interview that revealed a particular quality. The particular quality is not in the lesson because it cannot be made general. The original event was too specific to be transferable, so it was made general, which made it transferable but also made it not quite true.
Case 3
A communication was sent without full information and caused a misunderstanding. The lesson extracted: "Never send a message when you're still figuring things out." This rule, applied consistently, would prevent most external communication, since most communication occurs before full information is available. The rule is not applied consistently. It is applied when the original situation is remembered, which is selectively.
Finding
The lesson is accurate. Its range of application has not been tested. The testing is not performed because the lesson is understood to be general, and general lessons are understood to apply broadly, and applying a lesson broadly is understood to demonstrate that something useful was learned from the experience.
The forensic analysis registers resigned acceptance and closes the case.