Busted
“On Track To Becoming A Successful 21st Century CEO?”
Business People Out There — You Do My Head In.
Why?
Seriously — what is it about all of this stuff that people don’t get? Here’s my latest compendium of classics. You know — the sort of things nobody owns up to but gets repeated every day.
ONE:
“When challenged on your aims and intentions you repeatedly say profit and growth. When you should know beyond any doubt that they’re the by-product of being brilliant at something people want. Err?
Also — that answer instils loathing and apathy in your workforce (sucking any inspiration out of them). It screws up the focus of the firm. It shifts everyone away from what your aims and intentions should be — that of being capable of delivering indispensable value and compelling experiences to your customers. Doh!
TWO:
“You’re slowly getting the idea that sustainability can be an important message for your marketing strategy — a few of you are even getting the actual idea behind why it’s a good thing. So why is it taking you so long to execute it?”
We will all die — the planet will deny you your raw materials — your credibility with consumers will dry up and the next generation of workers and consumers will string you up on the town hall steps. I’m just saying.”
THREE:
“You keep saying you want to be market leading and the biggest and best and you say you know the challenges — but you fail to make the commitments to making it any different — run that by me again?”
It staggers me that leaders will repeat these statements, push their passion for these statements to the fore but fail to make the capacity, capability and mandate to achieve it a reality. Astonishing.
FOUR:
“Why do you allow a distinction between strategy and execution and even between a ‘great sales effort’ and a ‘wonderful delivery program’ are you serious?”
Senior people will happily recite elements from the strategic documents they produce that are completely disconnected from any real strategy of how that stuff actually gets done. Is it just me?
FIVE:
“When discussing the really big ideas — such as your strategy, your vision and your operational model (that ARE your business) — why do you allow basic meaning and semantics to plague their definition — in particular amongst your fellow leaders?”
So little time getting clarity on the meaning behind these things. Often very little effort and quality time allowing those that have to deliver to get into the intention and purpose of these critical ideas.
You know what that costs the business right?
SIX:
“Why do you endlessly debate ideas around innovation and transformation without engaging those that might have a clue where the true insights might comes from — the front line — the grass roots of the business?
And what happens that makes your default response to fixing this stuff to ‘outsource’ it to self serving consultants — often simply bent on solving the wrong problems really well?”
Why?
SEVEN:
“When asked about skills and expertise you say it’s a gap (not an opportunity) and at the same time failing to make a case to potential recruits as to why they should give a damn about working for you.”
It may be that you are banging on about profit and growth when you should be explaining what an inspiring, worthwhile and meaningful business they could choose to join. I don’t know.
EIGHT:
“You go on about the importance of social media and collaboration but don’t actually use it. Worse you don’t belong to any platforms yourself and consequently become the biggest barrier to it in the first place.”
It’s probably better to stop saying that the business should become digitally savvy. You know — socially aware — available to consumers to choose how they consume your products — through whatever device.
All because your clear disdain and lack of curiosity for it undermines any belief that you intend to get behind or care anything about it.
NINE:
“Why do still think a 3–5 year business plan makes any sense whatsoever?”
To anybody — anymore.
TEN:
“Why do you fail to see the increasingly lower switching cost to the alternative to the (often) better products and services than you make?”
Platforms, new models and better experiences are now proliferating quicker than new taxi services. In a hundred thousand garages there’s a new business that’s going to take out a few million of your profits and potentially take you out. Are you listening?
ELEVEN:
“You say you are people centric but serve warm toxic sludge in awful machines and call it coffee.”
You’re either just playing a sick joke or you have access to your own stash. I want to know.
TWELVE:
“You’re smart right — so surely you’ve already figured that communication is the key to everything that goes on between humans. Why have you signalled to the world that you are no longer in contention for anything?
Why are you content to appear as a prehistoric, meaningless and outdated corporation with all of the bullshit bureaucracy and stupidity of opaque online websites and communication dogma?
How come you are deliberately lacking of any story — impenetrable for humans to grasp and your company is looking this way because these folks are slaves to some pre-war brand guidelines that cripple creativity and send consumers running and screaming to the competition.
THIRTEEN:
“How can you even consider ideas around growth if you cannot get the platforms in place that will enable such scale?”
And in the same breath what is it that’s stopping you being capable of building genuinely mutual value partnerships, leverage, networks and platforms with all the new models of transaction and economics that are possible for you?
Oh and don’t get me started about your arcane procurement processes.
FOURTEEN:
“You crave a return to entrepreneurialism. You know that it enabled the fire in the belly that made you great. Then all the systems and hierarchical constraint you created blew it all up— why did you think that was a great idea?”
As a leader why don’t you insist on a return to what used to work? Why don’t you lead the crusade to bring back genuine ingenuity and creativity that made the business a success in the first place?
FIFTEEN:
“You apply traditional tools, MBA claptrap and stuff you’ve read in books to the real world. A world that changed beyond recognition since the time you started reading this. And you defend it to the death.
What’s up with that?”
SIXTEEN:
“You’ve done all of the strategy creation, you may well even have a great execution plan. The bit you then forget is to hold people to it.”
And that happens almost immediately. They go back to whatever it was they were doing before you did all of this.
Doesn’t that seem just a little weird?
SEVENTEEN:
“You seem to think that leadership somehow checks you out of having to be a normal person — to be emotional and admitting the fact that astonishingly you don’t know bloody everything.”
You realise that by appearing to be a robot, utterly unapproachable and a bloody know it all makes you look like a total idiot?
Don’t you?
Editors Note
Nobody was killed during the making of this summary.
I’ve had near death experiences trying as patiently as I can to steer people away from the cliff though. And OK — I’ve been a little harsh on everyone to drive a few points home — but every single experience above has happened to us on too many occasions.
And I’m sure I will add a few more.
