deputy, asked Andy how one acquired good judgment. Andy
said he guessed it came from experience. Barney asked how you
got experience. Andy said, “You get kicked around a little bit.”
Abboud shrugged and said, “I got kicked around a little bit.”
Abboud learned from his experience, rather than being de-
feated by it, because he didn’t simply accept it. He reflected on
it, understood it, and used it. Leaders learn by doing—they
learn where there are challenges, where the task is unpro-
grammed, where the job is being done for the first time. How
do you rescue a bank? You learn by doing it. You learn through
all the things that happen on the job. Much of this chapter ap-
pears to revolve around learning from adversity. But I don’t
think of it that way. I think of it as learning from surprise.
Sydney Pollack told me how he learned from experience.
“The first time I ever directed anything,” he said, “I acted like a
director. That’s the only thing I knew how to do, because I
didn’t know anything about directing. I had images of directors
from working with them, and I even tried to dress like a direc-
tor—clothes that were kind of outdoorsy. I didn’t put on put-
tees, or anything like that. But if there had been a megaphone
around, I would have grabbed it.”
Pollack created entire worlds every time he made a movie—
both the world on-screen and the world behind the camera.
“On a motion picture I have a team of anywhere from one hun-
dred to two hundred people. Some are technicians, some are
artists, some are craftsmen, and some are just laborers. Part of
the trick is not creating situations where you’re inviting con-
tests of egos. And oddly enough, the more willing you seem to
be to let people participate, the less need they have to force
participation. It’s the threat of being left out that exacerbates
their ego problems and creates clashes.”On Becoming a Leader0465014088_02.qxd:0738208175_02.qxd 1/9/09 1:33 PM Page 136