Most managers newly arriving into a CEO position have a significant amount of industry, product, and market knowledge. Many who have been CEO’s of several companies have stayed within a certain industry and leveraged their specific industry experience from one company to the next. In either case their arrival may therefore be easily accepted: employees and other relevant constituencies can, at least initially, be impressed by the new CEO’s instant grasp of company and industry issues.
However no two companies in my experience base were in the same industry: in all cases I entered knowing virtually nothing about the specific business, products or markets. Yet every time, the end result was always positive--extremely positive. From this experience evolved three principles of decision making that (a) enabled the results I achieved, and (b) that will set you apart.
#1. The personal behavioral characteristics of Industry Inexperience, when properly utilized, were for me and can be for you a strong asset. Yes, it’s against everything you’ve read, and yes, it flies in the face of how most corporations operate. I used it as a base for new ideas, fresh attitudes, and organizational adaptations that provided the fuel for rejuvenation. Next week’s publication will give guidance on handling yourself in new managerial situations, and how to get the best decision making processes possible in place by substituting inexperience assets for your industry knowledge and experience ego.
#2. While many feel that companies get in trouble from management making Bad Decisions, more often their problems emanate from management not making decisions. A backlog—a large backlog—of unmade, usually difficult, decisions awaits. If an organization is in a situation that requires, say, four significant decisions a month, a poorly managed one will make one or two. Like water behind a dam, twenty or so need to be made immediately to prevent a flood. Setting a pace for decision-making, to enable you to get through the backlog, is the subject of the second entry in Decision Making in the Real World.
#3. Going Deep is imperative; it allows you to tackle the decision-making problem in the short-term with widespread and long-term effects. The benefits of Going Deep are amazing. Although on just the one decision at hand you’ll make a better decision, you will also tune up the organization, gain respect, and be able to assess your managers in a way that otherwise would never happen. Given all these benefits, you can’t afford not to Go Deep!
Tune in to the next three weeks for Industry Inexperience, Bad Decisions No Decisions, and Going Deep.
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