03.4
Ego control
The ego is named before it is allowed to choose the step.
Ego control is a published specialty of the practice, not a private aside. In a strategy meeting the loudest preference is often the founder’s, the chair’s, or the officer who arrived with a finished answer. The session names that preference as ego and then asks whether it is also the next step on the ladder.
If it is the next step, it is written as a decision with an owner. If it is only the preference, it stays in the note and does not move the strategy. The point is not to embarrass the person. The point is to keep a preference from wearing the clothes of a decision.
Directors who want this work sit with the board practice. The note from the session comes back in the language of steps, not in the language of personality.