Bold Exec

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

                         A frequent comment to me-- "I suppose that when you go into a new assignment you find lots of bad decisions have been made!"

No that's typically not the case; rather previous management didn't make any decisions--there was a backlog. An organization suffers more from the lack of decisions than from bad decisions. Why?

With bad decisions at least you learn; you get feedback; you have a frame of reference; the middle managers in the organization at least have a direction. With no decisions little is learned; you get no feedback; you have no frame of reference; and middle managers have no idea what to do.

In your first 100 days in a new assignment, make sure you clearly identify the key decisions that must be made, make them, and communicate those decisions clearly and continuously to your managers. Sometimes they're tough and you're tortured; how do you deal with that?

Run in a Way that Optimizes Your Governance

The positioning a presidential candidate makes concerning his arguments, his treatment of the truth, his composure, and his leadership persona will impact on his ability to lead. In the political world, most people view that a composed, level-headed, positive presentation will be an enabling element in constructing coalitions to govern.

A new CEO experiences a different, but in some ways parallel, path. He or she presents to the recruiter and then to the hiring committee their accomplishments and skills: modest embellishment is inevitable and expected--more, not. The next presentation is to the operating constituencies (employees, suppliers, customers), concerning the individual but more so his views on the state of the business, the degree of difficulty, the degree that significant change that will be required, and the resulting effects to those parties. Clarity, honesty, a degree of humility, and candor set the stage for growth of your leadership persona from a constructive base.

When you are positioning yourself for that new or next CEO position, remember that your initial positioning will be remembered by all the constituencies. Don't feel impelled to unnaturally embellish your credentials and the business prospects--there's a long term price to pay for the short term ego gratification.

The First 100 Days

Many of the top leveraged-buy-out groups use “first hundred day” plans. During the due-diligence process the agenda items for the first hundred day plans are stockpiled; during the closing process the action plan is created; and it is executed during the first hundred days. They do this because they know that urgency of action has a shelf life and that time is money.

When you go into a new management assignment; learn from this. You won’t have the same advantage of hundreds of man-hours of in-depth analysis and an extremely experienced and savvy set of advisors, but regardless set a tough and tight timetable for yourself, and don’t deviate from it. Your organization expects change now, not six months from now: their receptivity will be at its peak. Don’t worry about getting everything exactly right, make substantive directional changes. Establish yourself as a leader, as the organization’s leader. Don't waste this opportunity by being cautious.

The First 100 Days Summary

When you acquire a new business or take on a new management role, the decisions and actions you implement in the first 100 days are crucial.  Most LBO groups have a rather formalized “first 100 day” process, determining what needs to be done first, what are the priorities, and on what specific schedule.  The primary purpose of a “first 100 day” approach is to clean the landscape of distractions, move aside those people, things, places, facilities, assets, and other factors that keep up clogging the wheels of progress, so that on the 101^st day all energies can go toward making the company great.  Specific Topics not yet created. To be published 4Q07.