The book provides first-hand insight into where to anticipate some of the biggest surprises that blindsided even these seasoned executives and how to avoid some of the biggest mistakes they made. The second chapter focuses on the second myth, supported by much of the business literature: Do all top executives come into work with a game plan, ready to execute.
GOT IT!
That's what he did—he just skied—and that's what he did that day, too. Spalding told Vander Zanden that he had a good day skiing, but that "he could feel it a little bit" and so took things easy.
TO PLAN OR NOT TO PLAN?
This is the kind of improv you have to do every day, but in a very disciplined way. Burns says the positive result of the experience is Dow-Corning's improved relationship with the FDA.
REACH FOR THE STARS
Another positive impact of the early dismissal: “It has exposed a lot of jewels in the company: people in the company who are real superstars, who have really risen to the occasion since 18 to 20 months ago. One of the first things she did was remove one of the highest levels of the company: the COO. Zander read Good to Great by Jim Collins and says, “Whether you like the book or not, it contains one of the best lines about getting your team together: 'It's the right people in the right seats on the right bus .'”.
The last part of the script – the “real bus” – meant the articulation of Motorola's seamless mobility strategy and the company's goal. Note that the Midland, Michigan company is in the heart of the state, which presents a bit of a recruiting challenge. A month later, one candidate told Liveris, “I'm going to be very honest with you.
When he was named COO, an office of the CEO was formed with the company's top four executives.
REWIND
And I'm still learning where it's important for me to spend more time, where I should delegate or not be involved at all. It's really unusual for a specialty chemical company to think this way.” All of this, she says, takes time and a willingness to improvise sometimes. We have a team on the floor, and it's better than a year ago.
You don't want to make anyone's head spin, but even if you're integrating businesses into an acquisition, it's always best to let people know what you're going to do. I think it's critical that you establish what the first 100 days of a person's role in the job are. In general, he believes that too much analysis is paralysis, and that it is a mistake to take too long to make some kinds of decisions, esp.
He says corporations need to have a decision-making mechanism that signals when you've reached a point of judgment — when all the data and analysis has been done and the answer to the next question adds nothing.
A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS
I had to immerse myself, do a crash course in the people around me, most of whom I inherited from the former CEO. His general counsel and head of HR were the only ones who stayed, but a lot of people around them in the legal and HR departments have changed. What is said in the forum stays in the room, and it is for members only, vs.
How would you like to be friends with one of the most influential CEOs in the world and be able to consider him a member of your own. As a new CEO, I found the people on the forum to have an incredible reservoir of experience and they were completely objective. I try to engage my entire senior team in many things we do and decide, because I want people to be invested not only in policy, but also in organizational strategy.
Dolan agrees that it is lonely at the top, but that he also has a number of people in the company who can advise him on certain matters and who clearly fill the role of kitchen cabinet.
THEY’VE GOT RHYTHM
That's when you see CEOs rip out the management team and start over." Joerres makes sure that his people understand that it is okay to make mistakes, "because we are going to make mistakes in a way that we can recover from them. He thinks this is the best way to find out how fast or slow head office initiatives are flowing through the organization. My CFO always talks about 'the rhythm of the numbers.' We always ask ourselves: 'Do we like this rhythm or not?' The rhythm of the organization was and still is: get better, get better, get better.
They want to believe it's over because we've stabilized, we're growing and we're in our seventh quarter of profitability. Jamie Dimon remembers the beat of Bank One shortly after he first came on board at the Chicago offices. It's Jamie on the line.' He would be transferred through the line from the Chicago headquarters offices and Dimon would say, 'Hello, how are you?' Dimon says that today the company follows its own rhythm.
It is that proverbial plane that is off course 99% of the time, like all planes are, but they always correct themselves and therefore always arrive at their destination airport.
NET 90?
Even now that I'm in the groove as I enter my seventh year as CEO, I think I still need to do that. Now we're starting to see where it worked, where it didn't work, what catches on and what doesn't.” How do they know they're in the groove with their business and customers.
Some CEOs felt that they had truly found their place in the company from their first day on the job. His enthusiasm is contagious and all this talk of the future is clearly what keeps him in the groove at his job. Dow Chemical's Andrew Liveris says, "It hasn't been about a year in a job that I'm able to say, 'I'm in the flow.'
I feel light.’ It’s when things come together: my team works and the organization is aligned and performing well.
THE REAL SCOOP
High-impact leaders formulate a general course of action based on the interview process, keep an open mind. Effective managers play it safe and get to know their new teams before making changes. Effective leaders know that setbacks and challenges are part of the topography of the executive board and see.
High-impact managers seek all the best sources, whether upward, downward, internal or external, for. High-impact managers sense the rhythm of the organization and pick up the pace only when the organization is able to learn the new cadence. High-impact managers should make a big mark on their companies by the end of their first 90 days.
High-impact leaders have a proven game plan for success, but keep an open mind and do as many facts as possible during their early days on the job.
A FEW FINAL WORDS
You'll get a lot of pressure to make promises, but you'll hit a wall. If you're asking your boyfriends to help you, you're probably doing it wrong. If you're new, it's all too easy to skim the surface of a company's culture and not think it means anything.
The culture may be bad, but you should know better; otherwise you'll never get the cadence right. So, especially if you're new to the company, spend time listening, asking questions, talking to people throughout the organization, forming your own judgment. Unless the company is in crisis, do nothing for the first 30 to 60 days you are there.
When the chips are down, you won't be able to be someone else and you know what.
Notes
Acknowledgments
In addition, there were many PR people and executive assistants who were the wind beneath the wings of their leaders and were a great source of help to me. One final note, thanks to the many nameless individuals I have met along the way who have encouraged me in countless ways to stay on the path. A special thank you to Avery and Elliott – for inspiring us as leaders for the next generation.
About the Author
In 1989, Quandt joined Schneider Communications, a high-growth regional long-distance company as vice president of marketing. She was recruited by Call-Net Enterprises (Toronto) in 1992 as vice president of marketing and product development in the newly regulated Canadian long distance market. In 1998, Quandt joined one of her original clients, 21st Century Telecom Group, a complete communications provider, as senior vice president of marketing and sales.
Upon the company's acquisition of EnterAct, Quandt was named president of the consumer sales group. She was responsible for the company's home and small business distribution channels for telephone, cable TV and high-speed data. In her "retirement," she joined two other startups in marketing and sales roles: BeMany!.com and maverix.net.
She is now managing partner of The ROI Partnership, a branding, product development and sales strategy consulting firm.
Index
Asking questions: about the decision-making process in the company, 81; on the status of the current CEO, 86; to help select management team, 61, 67; employees dislike CEOs, 25. Burns, Stephanie: best advice, 137–138; on Dow-Corning's leadership development process, 66; on measuring the required speed of action, 85–86; management team selection by, 69–71; silicone implant planning. Family: Dealing with CEO's Sudden Death, 31; mixed response to acceptance of CEO position, 15–16.
Frito-Lay: as licensee of ChefsBest Award, 27; Existing management team retained in, 58; rhythm of, 116; consulting sources for CEO of, 100. Information: on company's decision-making process, 81; easy availability of, 44; unknown to culture, 21, 81 Information gathering: about value of. Interviews: question about company's decision-making process in, 81; asking about status of acting CEO in, 86;.
Rosenfeld, Irene: existing management team retained by, 58; in measuring required speed of action, 84–85; personal pace of, 116; sources of advice for, 100.
