Dan Coughlin:
Jason, I've just finished reading your book about the best-performing new CEOs of America's Publicly-Owned Companies in the 21st Century (Hit the Ground Running — A Manual for New Leaders Portfolio Publishers March 2009). Since you and I have both invested thousands of hours on site coaching executives in a wide array of industries, I think your book makes for a very interesting foundation for us to discuss the behaviors of a high-performing executive. It's not what one expects.
The first trait I would like to discuss with you is humility. It's been my experience that the word humility can be used in a couple of ways by an executive, and one is very unproductive.
First, it can mean putting the long-term good of the organization and the long-term good of fellow employees ahead of the good of the executive. This is the productive way in which to be humble. I think this is what you are referring to at the end of your book when you talk about stewardship. This type of a humble executive searches for quality answers and doesn't care who they have to ask for help from. This seems to be the type of humility you refer to in your book.
The second way in which to be "humble" is when the executive says to groups, "I'm really very fortunate to be surrounded by such smart and hard-working people," but then in private says, "I have to pump these people up, but the truth is most of them couldn't make an effective decision without me." These are the polite dictators who invariably ruin the organization's performance. They're publicly humble and privately arrogant.
What has been your experience with "humble" executives?
Jason Jennings:
Let me tell you a story. There was a cardinal, a bishop, and a janitor.
Late one Saturday night the cardinal was overcome by religious awe. The next day he delivered an inspired sermon telling his congregation, "He was nothing before his Maker." The bishop heard his boss's passionate homily and was similarly inspired saying "I too am nothing before God." The cathedral's custodian, touched by the selflessness and humility from these two princes of the Church, made a similar confession. At which point, the bishop turned to the cardinal and said, "Look who thinks he's nothing!"
In my experience most "humble" executives belong to your second group. They're like the bishop… they don't practice what they preach — and everybody knows it. All of the best performing CEOs I studied belong to your first group.
They said things like, "I don't have a corner on all the good ideas." and "It's not about the CEO getting credit. It's about making your organization more than it is." and "Doubt your own infallibility." Truly humble comments that characterized their beliefs about leadership.
But just to be sure that these "best performing CEOs" meant what they say I dug deeper, getting a 360 degree assessment from boards, peers, and employees. The results were unanimous — all were authentically humble — in their words and deeds.
It stands to reason. Life is too short for truly capable and principled subordinates to hang around credit stealing, pontificating blowhards. Imperial CEOs and other fakers get the entourage they deserve — full of overpaid weasels and yes men. Humble executives attract the best talent. As one of the top CEOs explained, "People see a lot more than we give them credit for. They know if you're genuine. And they can see if it's all about you or if it's about us."
Coughlin:
I found throughout your book that the best-performing CEOs were extraordinarily anti-fancy. Several of them changed the large fancy private offices they inherited into much smaller working offices for themselves and their teams. Some took out the fancy furniture and put in conference tables. One even insisted on removing his private bathroom and asked why in the world he would need his own bathroom.
Jason, I've noticed this pattern over the past eleven years. When I meet an executive for the first time and he or she spends the first thirty minutes bragging about a new car, a country club membership, where his or her kids went to college, or the past heroic achievements in his or her career, I have a hunch something is seriously wrong. Invariably these executives end up losing their positions and oftentimes their jobs within the next twenty-four months. I think there's something to be said for "The Plainness Factor," as in "the more plain" an executive is in his or her approach to work, the better his or her chances are for long-term success.
What are your thoughts on this?
Jennings:
Have you ever seen "Trader Monthly," the magazine that celebrated the gaudiest, shallowest, most tasteless indulgences of Wall Street types? It featured $20,000 bottles of liquor, $300,000 record players, and other overpriced nonsense and labeled each a "huge middle finger to everyone." That was the attitude! And even today I saw a news report suggesting that "above average testosterone" was the reason Wall Street behaved badly. Really they're more manly… Puh-leeese!
The fact is psychology 101. All that overindulgence was compensating behavior for people with serious infantile issues. One sure thing we've seen proven over the history of leadership, serial incompetence and infantile personal issues are always linked. History has repeated itself again.
You're right. The CEOs who hit the ground running were anti fancy/schmancy. Out went the floral displays, the private bar, the exclusive CEO elevators, 24/7 chauffeurs, and the extravagant furniture from the former CEOs. Why? They didn't have to compensate. They were comfortable in their own skin and understood that every dollar of waste was a soldier lost in the battle for productivity and a successful future in business.
Coughlin:
Another form of anti-fancy in your book was the absolute lack of business buzzwords. There were no stories of elongated vision statements, six-month strategic business reviews with twenty-four page summaries from insanely expensive consulting firms, or banners laden with lofty-sounding themes being posted all over the business locations.
Instead it was a series of stories about companies that clarified their desired destinations, established the steps necessary to reach those destinations, determined when and where to execute those steps, and conducted regular reviews of progress to see if the plans were working out. It's no wonder these CEOs haven't made the cover of major business magazines. What they're doing seems so boring, and yet it is so extraordinarily effective.
Now that you've had some time to reflect on your research while studying these ten CEOs, what are your thought on this "Kill the Buzz" approach? Have you found it to be true with other successful executives you've worked with in your career?
Jennings:
Jeff Loberbaum of Mohawk is one of the smartest guys I've ever interviewed. (I didn't ask his IQ but it has to be up there.) Yet his cardinal rule — the one things that helped him hit the ground running was "oversimplify everything." Fred Eppinger (former McKinsey Consultants brainiac) now CEO at Hanover Insurance was on that same page. So was Ron Sargent of Staples. No one used buzzwords or failed to simplify everything. Each spoke plainly and coherently. It was refreshing.
I've always quoted Albert Einstein to MBAs and others who get so enamored with buzzwords, insider acronyms and complicated theories. Einstein said, "If a physical theory cannot be explained to a child… it's probably worthless." I'm no Einstein but I think the same is true of business theories and complex strategies.
So the lesson I learned is kill the buzzspeak and learn to simplify everything if you want to hit the ground running.
Coughlin:
One interesting thing that these CEOs and their companies did not have in common was their industries. From office supplies, floor coverings, jams and jellies, natural gas, aerospace, and specialty metals to health care and health insurance, property and casualty insurance, and communications equipment, these incredibly high-performing CEOs come from a wide range of industries. In other words, the industry does not dictate great executive performance, the individual does.
I've seen this demonstrated in my own work. A wildly successful company or industry did not make an individual executive successful, and a company or industry going through terrible times did not make an executive unsuccessful. A far greater indication of his or her success was the behaviors he or she demonstrated on a regular basis.
What has been your experience in comparing an industry's rise or fall and an executive's individual performance?
Jennings:
There's no arguing that if you land in an industry with the wind at your back it's a big help… for a while. But when the wind dies (like at E-bay, Yahoo, and Krispy-Kreme) and luck isn't enough anymore leaders need great skills, judgment, and perspective to have long-term success.
All the CEOs I studied had some luck that helped them hit the ground running but they also had prepared themselves learning what to do when their luck ran out. None were pampered. They all said yes to difficult assignments. Everyone had led a turnaround. Some even had nicknames like "Cleanup on aisle nine" and "The human white flag." The lessons learned in those rough and rowdy situations prepared them to do the right thing in good and bad economic times. These skills, judgment, and perspective are what separates the best from the rest. As Louis Pasteur said, "Chance [or luck] favors the prepared mind."
Coughlin:
Here are four more asymmetric patterns that jumped out at me in your book. Some of the CEOs quickly replaced direct reports and others quickly assured their direct reports that they were not going to be replaced. Some of the CEOs quickly changed the direction of their companies when they took over and others said there was no need to change directions. Some of the CEOs had been part of the organizations they took over for a long time and some were hired in as the CEO or as the COO soon to be named CEO. Some felt it was important to really understand the trends of their competitors, and some felt it was a waste of time to ever study the competition.
What I took away from these four patterns, or lack thereof, is that it doesn't matter where the CEO came from, what process they chose to assemble their leadership team, or how they landed on their business strategy. Rather what does matter is that an effective CEO is hired and that he or she assembles an effective leadership team, clarifies an effective strategy for long-term success, and sticks to the plan while remaining flexible in its execution.
Jason, what do you make of these seemingly large differences between these top-performing CEOs?
Jennings:
You nailed it when you said "seemingly large differences." For example conventional wisdom says outsiders won't hit the ground running. That's wrong. It also says "bring in your own team if you want loyal lieutenants." Wrong again!
All of the best CEOs followed an unconventional wisdom. They started by expending a lot of effort to gain belief… as critical for insiders as for outsiders. They understood and respected "tribal knowledge" making sure they had an abundance of it in their top leadership circles. Each focused on their customers and not competitors. They weren't secretive about their strategies. And when they said "accountability is key"they all were taking responsibility themselves — not pointing their fingers at others.
After three books and thousand of case studies (on making speed a competitive advantage, cracking the code on productivity, and lessons that fuel consistent growth in public and private firms) I thought I had a pretty good idea of the right way to hit the ground running. But I admit that some of my thinking was pretty conventional. I was as surprised as anyone. The research gave me a set of fresh eyes and now I see leadership differently.
Jason Jennings is an international keynote business speaker on productivity and leadership and is the best-selling author of Less is More; Think Big, Act Small; and It's Not the Big that Eat the Small…It's the Fast that Eat the Slow (co-authored with Laurence Haughton). His new book, Hit the Ground Running: A Manual for New Leaders, is available wherever books are sold. Visit Jason at www.jason-jennings.com.
Dan Coughlin is the author of ACCELERATE: 20 Practical Lessons to Boost Business Momentum, which is the diary of an executive coach, and the upcoming book, The Management 500: A High-Octane Formula for Business Success, which provides practical management lessons from the history of professional auto racing. He is a business keynote speaker on innovation, branding, sales, and leadership.
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Fenton, Missouri