There is a great story about Mike Tyson and a gentleman from his entourage named Crocodile. I am not positive on the exact accuracy of the story, but I have spent enough time around the fight world that I know that it is at least mostly true.
When Mike Tyson was at the peak of his career and destroying people in the boxing ring, he had many people doing many different jobs for his team. One particular gentleman (Crocodile) was assigned the task of being 'positive reinforcement.' His job was to tell Tyson how great he was and continually remind him that he was the champ.
You are the greatest Mike! No one can beat you! You will destroy that man! You are the Heavyweight champ of the world!
In some ways, I think it would be awesome if we each had someone following us around telling us how good we are. Lord knows we have plenty of people usually willing to tell us the opposite... however....
What if your 'Crocodile' is supposed to be an advisor and not just positive reinforcement? What if he is supposed to give you feedback and help you figure things out versus just telling you how good you are and that you are right?
Executives, owners, managers, etc. must be very wary of surrounding themselves with 'Crocodiles.' It is very easy to do. Most of us like these people. They are positive and make us feel good about ourselves. They remind us of why we are the boss. They 'stroke' our egos and feed our belief that we are always right... The problem is, we aren't. What if Crocodile told Tyson that he was the best and he didn't need to train (if you follow boxing, this might have actually happened to Tyson based on his career)? What if he said that you will win without even trying? What if your closest advisors were afraid to challenge you? What if those around you followed your lead without question or discussion every single time? If this sounds good, I wish you good luck. If you see the problem with this, you have a chance. Multiple minds working toward a common goal will almost always beat one.
The crocodile was doing his job and I am sure he did it well. If I could afford it, I would love to have someone following me around telling me all the great things I do and can do. I would also make sure that person wasn't in the room when I was making decisions for my team though. They aren't going to look at things objectively and push me to be sure I am making the right choices. I need people around me to challenge me.
Once we come to a decision, I need them to fall in line and pull the same direction, but a little collaborative thinking can make the success rate of the decisions go way up. Give the people around you permission to ask questions and discuss the plan. Allow them to be part of the process versus just the result. Many times it is hard to tell whether you have surrounded yourself with Crocodiles or any other animal. Most of the time, I can tell you very quickly. Ensure your success, make the move. The Crocs will tell you you don't need help. Coaching and training is overrated. Your the best just like you are!! Go ahead, keep listening... Good luck with that. The results you want are out there, let me help you find them.