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Kindle Notes & Highlights
“People need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed.”
“People need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed.”
CEOs should be almost overwhelmed by the need to achieve something. That is what drives them. Achievement. Not ego.”
“Because once a person’s ego is initially satisfied, they turn their efforts toward enjoying the fruits of their new status. They work less hours. They worry less about the company’s performance than they do about their own level of comfort and status.”
“Wanting to be popular with your direct reports instead of holding them accountable.”
“It’s the temptation to choose certainty over clarity. Some executives fear being wrong so much that they wait until they’re absolutely certain about something before they make a decision. That makes it impossible to hold people accountable.”
“Well, in the military, they teach you that any decision is better than no decision.”
Otherwise, there is no accountability. And without accountability, results are a matter of luck.”
From what I can tell, many CEOs have the same problems. They finally get the job they’ve always wanted, and they become afraid to lose their status. Or they don’t want to hold people accountable because they’re afraid to be unpopular. And even if they aren’t afraid to be unpopular, they don’t hold people accountable because they haven’t bothered to be clear about what they expect from people because—” Andrew finished the rest of the lesson. “Because they’re afraid to be wrong.”
He knew that if he couldn’t be comfortable being wrong, he wouldn’t make tough decisions with limited information.”
“But harmony is like cancer to good decision making.”
“And I remember that he always said he trusted his people with his career.” Charlie paused, then asked, “Can you say that?”
Because too many of them mistakenly believe they can avoid it and still find a way to succeed. What they are doing is trading short-term pain (the struggle) for long-term pain (failure).
The most important principle that an executive must embrace is a desire to produce results.
Once they “arrive,” though, many of them focus primarily on preserving their status.
With nowhere to go but down, it almost makes sense that once they have achieved their ultimate status, they will do whatever they can to protect it.
This causes CEOs to make decisions that protect their ego or reputation or, worse yet, to avoid making decisions that might damage them. They reward people who contribute to their ego, instead of those who contribute to the results of the company.
Simple advice for CEOs: make results the most important measure of personal success, or step down from the job. The future of the company you lead is too important for customers, employees, and stockholders to hold it hostage to your ego.
Simple advice for CEOs: work for the long-term respect of your direct reports, not for their affection. Don’t view them as a support group, but as key employees who must deliver on their commitments if the company is to produce predictable results. And remember, your people aren’t going to like you anyway if they ultimately fail.
Simple advice for CEOs: make clarity more important than accuracy. Remember that your people will learn more if you take decisive action than if you always wait for more information. And if the decisions you make in the spirit of creating clarity turn out to be wrong when more information becomes available, change plans and explain why. It is your job to risk being wrong. The only real cost to you of being wrong is loss of pride. The cost to your company of not taking the risk of being wrong is paralysis.
Simple advice for CEOs: tolerate discord. Encourage your direct reports to air their ideological differences, and with passion. Tumultuous meetings are often signs of progress. Tame ones are often signs of leaving important issues off the table. Guard against personal attacks, but not to the point of stifling important interchanges of ideas.
Simple advice for CEOs: actively encourage your people to challenge your ideas. Trust them with your reputation and your ego. As a CEO, this is the greatest level of trust that you can give. They will return it with respect and honesty, and with a desire to be vulnerable among their peers.
CEOs who focus on results more than status, accountability more than popularity, clarity more than certainty, productive conflict more than harmony, and trust more than invulnerability can still fail, but only if they are thwarted by competitive and market pressures that are largely out of their control.
Every meeting has conflict. Some executives just sweep that conflict under the table and let employees deeper in the organization sort it out.
Love this. So true.
