1. Week 3 - Capstone

2. There’s nothing wrong with
pursuing a vision for greatness.
But good-to-great companies
continually refined the path to
greatness with the brutal facts of
reality.

3. How to Confront the Brutal Facts
• Lead with Questions, Not Answers
– Identify a few people who are not afraid to tell
you the truth.
– Ask questions about your passion, talent, career
aspirations, and economic engine.
– Honest feedback will help you understand the
“brutal facts”.

4. How to Confront the Brutal Facts
• Engage in Dialogue and Debate, not Coercion
– Don’t go in to a conversation with the goal of
convincing others about your point of view.
– Instead, listen to them and consider their
arguments and beliefs
– Seek first to understand, then to be understood
– Allow your mind to be changed

5. How to Confront the Brutal Facts
• Conduct Autopsies, Without Blame
– Fail quickly, and cheaply, and freely share about
the experience so that others may learn from it
– Understand why you’ve made mistakes in the
past, and learn from them
– Don’t blame others for past mistakes

6. How to Confront the Brutal Facts
• Build “Red Flag” Mechanisms
– Set up warnings and alarms to let you know when
you’re straying from your personal mission
– Have others keep you accountable to your plans
– Write down your goals and assess your progress
regularly

7. Never Waver in Your Faith
• Have confidence that you will succeed
• Understand that you may face challenges, but
do not give up on your goals
• If you need to reinvent yourself, it may be
another stepping stone to your dream

8. The Stockdale Paradox
“You must never confuse faith that you will
prevail in the end – which you can never afford
to lose – with the discipline to confront the most
brutal facts of your current reality, whatever
they might be.” – Admiral Jim Stockdale