I run into a lot of leaders who mislead themselves — without realizing that’s what’s happening. Here’s how they do it. They say things, like “My people aren’t creative – we need to get a creativity expert in here to talk to them.” Or: “My people aren’t great problem solvers – they need to get better at problem-solving. Go find me a program that will help them improve their problem-solving.”

Here’s the disconnect. Nine times out of ten, the problem is not with the team. The problem is with the leader!