The Corner Office

Early in my career, I mean decades ago, I had a boss from hell. Oh sure, I’ve had lots of dysfunctional bosses. I was a pretty dysfunctional boss myself. But this guy was different. I’m talking serious lunatic stuff here. It was so traumatic that I sort of blocked it out of my memory. But as is often the case with tragedy, there was also a comic aspect and maybe even a lesson to be learned. 

Let me set the stage here. John - we’ll call him John - ran a regional office for a huge multinational technology company based in Asia. That’s where our products and services were developed. These folks in Asia had no idea what they were doing in the U.S. market. I mean no idea.

John’s boss and the rest of the company’s U.S. management and headquarters were in another state - California. John’s boss was a savvy executive who made it big down the road, but the rest of the U.S. folks were, well, they were idiots. And they were our principal interface to the folks in Asia who were clueless about the U.S. market. (more…)

Everybody I know - myself included - has hit at least one snag in their career. After all, nobody’s life, business, or career goes straight up and to the right. You may think you’re on the right path, then something changes and you’re suddenly thrown off course.  

A couple of weeks ago a good friend - a senior-level manager at a big company - found out he’s getting laid off after 20 years there. Time for a new plan.

The last four jobs another senior executive friend has taken have been with companies that, for whatever reason, get acquired a year or two later. Poof, he’s back on the street again. He’s getting on in years; can’t keep doing that forever. 

But you know what? Highly accomplished professionals take their careers very personally. People who pride themselves on their ability to grow businesses and companies sometimes have a hard time seeking advice from others when it comes to their own careers.

Unfortunately, successful career change requires a certain level of objectivity that most people simply aren’t equipped with. After all, we’re only human and we inevitably see ourselves through a subjective prism.

Look at it this way: would you attempt a corporate turnaround or restructuring without an objective analysis of the situation or without getting input and feedback from a variety of sources - board of directors, employees, customers, analysts? Of course not. Well, the same goes for your career. 

In fact, thinking of career change as a sort of turnaround or at least a strategic planning process is absolutely the way to go. Think about it; the methodology works:

The 5-Step Career Turnaround

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The other day I was listening to Soul Sacrifice from Santana’s remarkable first album, c. 1969. I’ve probably listened to it a thousand times, but I was still blown away by how tight the band was. All I could think of was what it must feel like when a band jams together for the first time and everyone realizes there’s magic in the room.

But the concept of “Great Groups” - where the whole is infinitely greater than the sum of the parts - goes way beyond Santana, The Allman Brothers, or The Beatles, for that matter. This rare, once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon can occur wherever there’s challenge, opportunity, and creative talent.     

Like its topic, there’s an exceptional, one-of-a-kind book that describes - in dramatic and insightful fashion - the conditions under which great groups occur. It’s called Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration, by Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman.

The premise is straightforward enough. “In our society, leadership is too often seen as an inherently individual phenomenon.” We hoist Apple’s Steve Jobs up on a superstar-CEO pedestal, but the book reveals a relatively unexplored talent of Jobs - his ability to inspire groups of developers to great heights. For example, he told the first Macintosh design team that they were there to “make a dent in the universe.” And they did.  (more…)

When I was a fulltime executive, I never would have found time for social media and all the communications gadgets everyone’s eyes, ears, and thumbs seem to be glued to these days. I used to work like 50-60 hour weeks, not to mention all the travel. The rare times I was home and not working or sleeping, I had things to do, fun to have, and relationships to maintain … like my marriage.

Now I work a lot less but my time is still somehow consumed - with what, I don’t know - and the lure of social media and communications gadgets loom like an ever-growing mountain of unmet expectations. So I wonder: how the heck does anyone have time for all this stuff and is your business life “more” or “less” fulfilling and productive now than it was pre-social media?

For me, the answers are “I don’t” and “less” and “less.” Bigtime. (more…)

I work in a jungle. Not metaphorically. I’m talking about a real jungle.

Right now I’m watching a 75 pound Rottweiler squirm around on his back, making funny noises, trying to bait a Boxer into playing. The Boxer just sits there and yawns. I have no idea what that means, unless maybe he’s bored. 

As I recline in the office La-Z-Boy - where I do much of my writing - my head rests lightly on a fluffy black pillow named Clyde. He likes to just lay there while I work. Once in a while I reach back and pet him and he purrs. That I get.

If you think this is bizarre, I don’t blame you. I think it’s bizarre too. But still, I’d bet my office environment is tame compared to the jungle you work in.

Sometimes people ask me why I gave up working in corporate America at such a young age (I don’t think I was young - I was 46 - but that’s what they ask). Well, I have a few canned answers, like:

“The workplace has become too PC for a dysfunctional control freak like me.”  (more…)

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If you really want to learn how to move up in the business world, you’ve got relatively few sources of expert information. And when you’re done with all the MBA BS, the business self-help books, and God help us - the life coaches - ask somebody who’s done it, and he’ll tell you.

Come to think of it, if you think you can learn what works in the real world from anyone but someone who actually succeeded in the real world, well, let’s just say you might want to rethink your management potential.

In the past we’ve talked about all kinds of management tools and leadership qualities, but this time, we’re going to cut right to the chase. You won’t find these five tips anywhere else, since you’re the first ones to read them. Moreover, these are indeed CEO best practices that I’ve observed in few middle managers - those with CEO potential.   (more…)

Tired of seeing his business evaporate every weekend, Stuart Frankel - the owner of two Subway franchises in Miami - came up with an idea. He decided to offer all foot-longs for $5, about a buck less than regular prices, on weekends.

Next thing he knew, Frankel had lines out the door and double-digit sales growth.

Next thing Subway knew, it had one of the biggest hits in fast-food history.

The $5 footlong promotion alone generated $3.8 billion over the past year - more than Arby’s and Domino’s entire U.S. business. At a time when everyone’s business is down, Subway’s sales grew 17 percent in 2008, making it the number two fast-food company, worldwide, behind behemoth McDonald’s. Actually, Subway should surpass McDonald’s in total number of franchises in 2010, an amazing feat.

The big question is this: Is the $5 footlong just a flash-in-the-pan, a round number that resonates with fast-food customers? Or is it a function of consumer price-points and price elasticity that affect virtually all markets? (more…)

Entrepreneurs worry too much about what they’re going to develop, make, or market. What’s more important is that they make, develop or market something. The odds that they end up making it big doing something different are apparently pretty high.

Here are 15 companies that became famous, not for what they started doing, but for something that came later. Sure, they may be related, but the point is still valid: better to get started on something; innovative people find a way.

• Backed by French venture capital, DuPont began making gunpowder in 1802.
• McDonald’s. In 1927, brothers Dick and Mac McDonald opened a hot dog stand called “The Airdrome” at the Monrovia airport in California. 21 years later, the company began focusing on hamburgers.
• Nokia was originally a paper mill in Finland. (more…)

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Some executive staff meetings can get pretty heated. I’ll never forget one where we fought over a multimillion dollar promotional budget centered on the prelaunch of a major product line. In the middle of the mayhem, one executive asked a very good question.

“Why do we even need all this PR stuff? Why not just deliver the goods?”

“Because,” I replied, “The only thing more powerful than delivering a great product is saying you’re going to deliver a great product and then doing it.”

That was 12 years ago and I don’t mind admitting that today, my answer would be different. Indeed, telegraphing the introduction of a potentially breakthrough product in advance is a powerful PR strategy I’ve employed many times before and since. But the risk of overpromising and under-delivering can, at times, dwarf the potential reward. (more…)

The first time I was considered for a CEO position I actually got the job, which surprised the heck out of me. When I asked the executive recruiter why I was chosen over what I thought were more experienced candidates, one of the things he said was that I had “CEO presence.”

Admittedly, I’m not 100 percent sure what that means. But I have worked with hundreds of CEOs and other executives, so I thought I’d take a stab at what constitutes “executive presence.” Whenever I attempt this sort of thing, the results are often counterintuitive, if not downright surprising. This is no exception.

One conclusion is that executive presence has nothing to do with polish, poise, sophistication, or even use of body language and gestures. In my opinion, executives with presence are just as likely to not posses those qualities. In this day and age, executive presence comes in lots of shapes and sizes, including some you wouldn’t intuitively recognize. 30 years ago, who would have thought a nerd like Bill Gates could have executive presence? But he does.

Another conclusion some may have a tough time swallowing: I don’t think any of these qualities are easy to learn or practice. I’m sure you can cognitively develop and improve some of them, but not by much. Not that anyone’s born with them; they develop over time with experience and maturity. (more…)