Why Great Leaders Need More Than Good Judgment

July 21, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Why Great Leaders Need More Than Good Judgment

The old model of leadership assumed the person at the top had the answers. But according to executive coach Marshall Goldsmith and Leaders Alliance head Cornelia Cho, that model is breaking down. In a world where change comes from every direction at once—AI, tariffs, geopolitics—leaders are making consequential decisions with outdated mental maps. Their new book, The Panoramic Leader, argues that the core skill for modern leadership is no longer having good judgment in isolation. It is the ability to systematically broaden your perspective by pulling in insights from stakeholders around you, then integrating those insights into your own decision-making.

The Problem with Your Internal GPS

Cho describes each leader's worldview as an internal map, built from personal values, past successes, and past failures. "This internal map is outdated at any given time, given the speed of change," she says. "So we're operating on partial maps, and the decisions we make look right given the part of the map that we see." The danger is that leaders become confident they are right, but they are only right relative to an incomplete picture.

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What you'll learn

1 (01:56) **Why Panoramic Leadership Now** - Guests Cornelia Cho and Marshall Goldsmith explain the core problem: leaders cannot navigate a world changing faster than they are using only their own experience and judgment.
2 (03:13) **Why Leaders Fail in the First 18 Months** - The hosts diagnose why so many new executives fail, linking it to outdated mental models and the speed of change.
3 (04:30) **The Outdated Internal Map** - Cho introduces the metaphor of the internal GPS that leaders use to make decisions, which is always partially outdated.
4 (05:39) **DBS Bank: Panoramic Leadership in Practice** - A concrete example of how DBS operationalized the concept across four levels of the organization.
5 (07:14) **Tactics for Building a Panoramic View** - Marshall shares the practical approach of former Ford CEO Alan Mulally and the importance of discipline.
6 (08:48) **The Danger of Autopilot** - The hosts explain how leaders get comfortable and miss signals, and how to break out of that pattern.
7 (10:34) **Monday Morning: The First Step** - Cho gives immediate, actionable advice for a leader who feels inspired but unsure where to start.

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Show Notes

What if the key to success in today's business world wasn't about making difficult decisions quickly—but about broadening the scope through which you make decisions? Leaders Alliance CEO Cornelia Choe and executive coach Marshall Goldsmith argue that being open to more perspectives can help leaders navigate an increasingly complicated world and lead better. They share their framework for this mindset shift, and examples of leaders who have done this well. Choe and Goldsmith are the authors of the book The Panoramic Leader: How Great Leaders See Differently.