More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
March 24 - March 24, 2020
“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.”
Suddenly Charlie became slightly agitated. “Yes, and now you don’t have to deal with him anymore, do you? It’s one thing to hold someone accountable for something and come back the next day and deal with him. It’s another to fire him and never have to talk to him again.”
“So let me get this straight. It’s not fair to hold a guy accountable for something specific because you aren’t an expert in his field. But it’s fair to fire him without warning when he doesn’t meet your expectations? Do I have that right?”
“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.”
“I’m sorry, Andy, but this is ridiculous. And please excuse me for saying this, because I haven’t known you very long, but not having a vision is no one’s fault but your own.” The truth hit Andrew hard. He wanted to defend himself, but before he could get the words out of his mouth, Charlie beat him to it. “And don’t tell me it’s more complicated than that.”
“There aren’t supposed to be easy answers, Andy. That’s why you get paid so much. But you have to come up with answers. Otherwise, there is no accountability. And without accountability, results are a matter of luck.” He paused for a breath, but couldn’t quite calm himself enough to stop from asking the next question. “How could you fire Terry and not know what he should have been doing?”
“Discord. Disagreement. Conflict. Any of those will do. The point is, it’s natural for human beings to want harmony.” He paused. “But harmony is like cancer to good decision making.”
“Maybe. But I think it has a lot to do with trust. People who trust one another aren’t worried about holding back their opinions or their passions. They say what they think and know that they aren’t going to be vulnerable if they do.”
“Touchy-feely? Getting results, holding people accountable, creating clarity for your people, engaging in productive conflict with them? If all those depend ultimately on vulnerability and trust, isn’t it worth tolerating just a hint of touchy-feeliness, if that’s what you think it is?”
The most important principle that an executive must embrace is a desire to produce results. As obvious as this sounds, it is not universally practiced by the highest-ranking executives in many companies. Many CEOs put something ahead of results on their list of priorities, and it represents the most dangerous of all the temptations: the desire to protect the status of their careers.
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.
Wanting to be well liked by peers is an understandable, but dangerous, problem for CEOs.
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 must ultimately judge their personal-professional success by the results on the bottom line.
When executives do get into an issue, CEOs often squelch any potential for passion by making peace. This sends a message that pleasant, agreeable meetings are preferred by the CEO. After a few pleasant meetings, boredom sets in and executives start lamenting the real work that they could be doing.
