Those managers who have a strong ambition to become top-notch leaders often ask themselves: What makes me a good leader? How can I improve my leadership? Good leadership is a composite of certain abilities polished to a superb level and a personal stability and strength. 
One of these abilities is the analytical skill.  

“The human mind is the most incredible computer it would be possible to imagine.” Have you heard that before?

Leaders work with their ability to think clearly and make the right decision. If the proposition of “the human mind is the most incredible computer it would be possible to imagine” is true about people in general then it is especially true about leaders – we call it “analytical skill”. 

Unfortunately people have a weak point in it that a leader cannot afford to have. It is not the ability to analyze something, it is the accuracy of “data feed” for our computer – what you know, what you observe. 

Let me demonstrate it: 
You are walking down the factory and see that many of your people are missing. You think they could not come today because of the big snow outside, and you keep walking. If you would have looked and asked you found out that there was a big quarrel last night and the group leader has fired them. You did not look or ask so he could hide it for one more day until someone told you what has happened. Work is already backlogging and it is hard to catch up. 

Here is another example: You need to start a campaign work with your team. It requires much higher speed of work than usual and working extra hours. You want to get their agreement but you do not know how. Another worker comes to you and says that offering the team a crate of beer is the thing to throw in and they will be more than happy to do the job. You find it is a good idea and you do so. It did not work. If you would have surveyed them you knew exactly what motivates them.  

Another example: Three partners have canceled their contracts with your company this recent month. You ask your junior what has happened. He says it is because of the economic crisis, these partners are reducing their costs and play safe financially. You buy it and do not do anything. Two months later when you lose four more contracts you start asking these partners yourself. They start with the usual “economic crisis” pretext but further questioning them about their satisfaction you discover that they all have read a series of newspaper articles, written by one of your ex-employees, that was full of lies about the company. These partners can be recovered now. 

The weak point is that people tend to assume things instead of actually finding it out or looking. This is a mechanism of “I know what has happened as last time the same thing happened…” instead of finding it out, or “It does make sense so it must be true…” instead of verifying it. Something that does make sense does not mean that it is the case. Only actually finding it out will tell you if it is the case or not. The fact that something happened in the past does not mean that it has happened now again. It might be something else. 

Got the point? 

This is an ability in which one can never be good enough. The more you practice it in your work the better you will be, but never good enough. You will still find yourself having been fooled by the inaccuracy of your data time to time. 

Sometimes we are too lazy to investigate something. Sometimes we do not even realize that we have to look into it more deeply, only when it has become obvious that we have been fooled. It requires a certain sense or a kind of suspicion that we had better look.  

I am using a specific investigatory technology that helps me to look and find the exact underlying data or Why. It has saved me a lot of trouble. 
 

PROBLEM/CONFLICT RESOLUTION 

Conflicting parties or ones sitting in a problem have the tendency not to look They are busy with the conflict or the problem. Good mediators or seniors succeed because they can observe it from an exterior viewpoint and see what the source of the conflict or problem is. Spotting it will open the door to a solution. But it requires good observation.  
 

DECISION MAKING 

The usual point where decisions of a leader or even those of management bodies go wrong is the inaccuracy of data or missing data the decision is being made on. We decide based on statistical data, different reports and our own observation and experience – which is the composite of past observations and data. 

It is wise to collect and verify every information and find out all the details, influencing factors, relevant statistics before responsible decisions are being made. When sitting on a board meeting you have the feeling that a specific factor is unknown to you, or you assume it is the case but you are not sure do not make the decision, get all the data. The precision of your decisions will depend on these details. 

This is a tough point. The higher position and responsibility one has the farther one is from the actual production and source of data. And the more responsibility is involved with decisions the more complete and accurate data one has to have while the more indirectly one is getting them. Thus the higher you are in the company the more skilled you have to be in gaining a clear picture by observing, discovering or verifying the truth.  
 
 
Conclusion: 
“The human mind is the most incredible computer it would be possible to imagine.” Feed it with complete and accurate data and it will work perfectly!