Defensive Leadership Trap

Shaan Puri shares unconventional but effective leadership tactics he's developed through experience, focusing on ways to overcome common management challenges and foster better team dynamics.

Key Leadership Tactics:

• The Doctor House Technique:

  • Don't spoon-feed answers to your team
  • Present data/problems and ask "What do you see here?"
  • Trains team to be curious and clever
  • Allows for multiple perspectives and insights

• The Holiday Party Tactic:

  • Visualize success by imagining future celebration
  • Gets people thinking creatively and relaxed
  • Helps identify north star goals
  • Plans form from confidence rather than fear

• The Misery Loves Company Approach:

  • Frame risks by imagining future failure
  • Ask "What would we say went wrong over beers?"
  • Identifies core risks upfront
  • Allows for proactive problem-solving

• The F-Murder-Mary Game:

  • Creates safe space to identify what's not working
  • Ask hypothetically what would be cut if required
  • Applies to team members, projects, or clients
  • Plants seeds for future optimization

• The Superpower Technique:

  • Present each team member's unique strength
  • Frame it as their "superpower"
  • Give specific examples and nicknames
  • People naturally live up to identified strengths

• Additional Tactical Tools:

  • Calendar Audit: Use color coding to identify energy-giving vs. draining activities
  • Tesla Master Plan: Write clear, empowering company roadmap
  • Peer Groups: Create small groups with shared ambitions
  • Kickoff Document: Define clear success metrics and anti-goals before starting projects

The core theme across these tactics is creating psychological safety for honest discussion while maintaining forward momentum and clear objectives.