The Eisenhower Principle: Daring to Work Differently When Your Learning Style Demands It

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In today's fast-paced professional world, understanding how you best process information isn't just helpful—it's essential. But knowledge alone isn't enough. The real challenge—and opportunity—lies in having the courage to act on that understanding, even when it means breaking from established norms or making others uncomfortable. As an executive coach working with leaders across industries, I've witnessed firsthand how this self-awareness, coupled with the boldness to honor it, can transform performance and satisfaction at work.

The Hidden Power of Self-Awareness in Action

One of my favorite articles of all time is Peter Drucker's "Managing Oneself," a Harvard Business Review classic that brilliantly illustrates this principle. Drucker argues that to succeed, we must not only understand how we uniquely process information but also have the conviction to leverage this knowledge to our advantage—even when doing so challenges conventional wisdom or organizational habits.

The Eisenhower Paradox

Consider this fascinating story from Drucker's article: Dwight Eisenhower, as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II, was renowned for his brilliant press conferences. Yet years later as President of the United States, he became known as a complete bumbler in the same context.

How could the same person go from exceptional to terrible in identical situations?

The answer lies in how information was processed. As a general, Eisenhower ran press conferences his way:

• He required journalists to submit questions beforehand on note cards.

• He and his team would review them, select which to address, and prepare thoughtful responses.

• When the actual press conference began, he would read each question and deliver his prepared answer.

He excelled because this approach matched his natural information processing style—he was fundamentally a reader who needed time to consider information before responding.

As President, however, Eisenhower abandoned this successful approach. Instead, he adopted the style of his predecessors, Roosevelt and Truman, who thrived on spontaneous questions and unscripted responses. They were natural listeners and talkers who processed information through conversation.

The result was predictably poor. By trying to operate in a system that contradicted his natural processing style, Eisenhower undermined his own effectiveness.

The lesson is profound: even someone as powerful as the President of the United States can fail when they don't honor their natural information processing style.

What Eisenhower needed was not just the awareness of how he learned best, but the courage to maintain his proven approach despite institutional pressure to conform.

Recognizing Your Processing Style

So what's your natural style? Consider these common information processing preferences:

• Readers: Process information best through text, need time to absorb written material, and often prefer to respond after consideration

• Listeners/Talkers: Learn through conversation, process by speaking, and often think out loud

• Visual Learners: Understand information through charts, diagrams, and visual representations; often need to see concepts mapped out to fully grasp them

• Tactile Learners: Understand through hands-on experience, need to interact physically with concepts

Most of us have likely experienced situations where we've performed exceptionally well, partly because information was presented in a way that aligned with our natural processing style. The challenge is recognizing these patterns and then intentionally creating environments that support them—even when doing so means swimming against the current of organizational norms or colleagues' expectations.

When Processing Styles Clash

A client of mine, a highly respected professional at a consulting firm, faced a challenge that illustrates this principle perfectly. While extremely intelligent and valued for her contributions, she needed to speak up more and share her ideas more frequently.

The challenge? She was a processor who preferred to think and consider before speaking. Meanwhile, she worked with colleagues who were remarkably quick on their feet, offering responses almost immediately after questions were posed.

Practical Strategies for Success

We developed two effective strategies:

• First, you don't have to be the first person to speak in a meeting, but make sure you're the last. When a topic arises and several colleagues immediately jump in with their thoughts, it's perfectly fine to sit quietly and process. But before the conversation moves on, assert yourself: "Before we continue, I'd like to add this perspective..." This approach honors your processing style while ensuring your voice is heard. It requires confidence to operate differently than your quick-responding colleagues, but this deliberate deviation from the group's pace is precisely what enables your best thinking to emerge.

• Second, you don't necessarily need to share your thoughts during the meeting. When asked directly for your opinion, it's entirely appropriate to say, "This is an important topic that deserves careful consideration. I'd like to think about it further and will share my thoughts in writing after the meeting." This approach not only respects your need for processing time but also creates a document that can be referenced later—often proving valuable when discussions circle back to the same topic weeks later. It takes conviction to temporarily withhold your opinion in a culture that values immediate responses, but this deliberate act honors your authentic learning style and ultimately produces higher quality contributions.

Optimizing Your Environment

Understanding your processing style allows you to optimize your environment for success, but this often means making conscious choices that differ from standard practices. For example, as a listener/talker myself, I find audiobooks to be an exceptionally effective way to absorb information. While I enjoy reading, hearing information aligns perfectly with how my brain best processes new concepts. Despite the academic world's emphasis on traditional reading, I've deliberately chosen to consume more content through audio—prioritizing my learning effectiveness over conventional methods.

Conclusion

Take time to reflect on how you've performed in different contexts throughout your career. When were you at your best? How was information presented in those situations? The answers may reveal your natural processing style.

But revelation without action leads nowhere. Once you understand your style, have the courage to create conditions that support it, even when doing so disrupts established norms or makes colleagues uncomfortable. Like Eisenhower should have done, your effectiveness depends on having the boldness to work in ways that honor your natural information processing preferences rather than conforming to others' expectations or organizational traditions.

In leadership as in life, self-awareness coupled with decisive action is the foundation of excellence. Know how you process information, act boldly to create environments that support your natural style, and you'll unlock new levels of performance and satisfaction in everything you do. The most successful leaders don't just understand their learning style—they dare to honor it, even when no one else does.