The Corner Office

I heard it twice last week: “Well, next week’s Thanksgiving, and then comes Christmas and all those holiday parties so nothing’s really going to happen until January.”

Bah! Humbug! Okay, I’m not much of an Ebenezer Scrooge. But let’s face it; if your business is party planning, the holidays are a boom time. Otherwise, you may as well roll up the carpet and hang a “Gone Fishing” sign on the door, right? Wrong.

If you’re resigned to lost productivity and plummeting effectiveness during the holidays, it’s just like handing market share to your competitor. Why? Because, if they’re smart - and I’m sure they are - they’ll be planning new programs for the new year. That’s right, the holidays are actually the best time to initiate change programs, strategic planning, or brainstorm innovative ideas. Anything out of the ordinary.

Why? Well, I’m not entirely sure. This is empirical observation - it just works. Still, I can take a stab at it.
First, this time of year the days are cold, the nights are long, and people don’t hibernate, so they become bored and antsy. Second, the holidays are inspiring - people tend to become animated and optimistic. Third, folks start getting into a freewheeling party spirit, so if you can get them out of their daily doldrums and into a brainstorm or planning session, they’ll be up for it.

Anyway, trust me; it works. In fact, whether you’re looking for a new career, a small business owner, department manager, division VP, or CEO of a Fortune 100 company, here are …

5 Ways to Make the Holidays Work For You:

1. Initiate your annual strategic planning process or just an annual review of your company’s or group’s overarching mission, objectives, strategies, whatever. If you hold weekly meetings starting in November, you should be able to finish and be ready to hit the ground running the first week of January.
2. Initiate development on a new program or SOP. Maybe the timing’s not right for your strategic plan. Instead, review your company’s SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and plan to upgrade or fill in the gaps. Or initiate development of a new website, CRM program, whatever you need.
3. Brainstorm new business ideas or opportunities with your staff. Kick it off with a motivational pitch, team-building exercise, or just dinner and drinks. Then assign each person to bring an idea to the table, analyze a competitor, whatever. Coalesce on one or two changes and you’re there. 
4. Conduct a 360 review. Sure, the holidays are a great time for reflection. But don’t reflect on your own subjective and tainted memories; get an objective perspective from your employees, peers, and boss. Conduct a 360 review of your management style and ability and have your staff to do the same.
5. Initiate a 5-Step Career Turnaround. Conduct your own personal SWOT analysis, develop your value proposition, or brainstorm ideas for starting your own business or making changes to your existing one. Hey, that’s what I’ll be doing.

In any case, doing this stuff during the holidays means you’re not doing some other time of the year when you and your folks should be hitting the streets working, right? Right.

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…)

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…)

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…)

Picture this: You are a top executive at one of the biggest technology companies on the planet. You spent 30 years working your tail off, climbing the corporate ladder, building your reputation, and it all paid off. You’re set for life; you can retire tomorrow and never have to worry about money as long as you live.

So what do you do? You leak all kinds of inside information on upcoming earnings releases and a high-profile restructuring and spinoff to a friend at a hedge fund who you know is going to illegally trade a million shares on the information and let another hedge fund manager in on the fun, too.

But you’re caught red-handed on tape by the FBI. Poof, it’s all gone. Just like that.

So, can you picture that happening to you? Of course not; neither can I. But it allegedly happened, and not to just one guy, but two. 

One is former AMD CEO and Motorola president Hector Ruiz, who yesterday agreed to step down as chairman of AMD spinoff Globalfoundries. Ruiz, apparently caught in the FBI snare, cooperated with the investigation and has not been charged.

The other is Bob Moffat, an IBM senior VP who has been mentioned as a possible successor to IBM CEO Sam Palmisano. Moffat, who was arrested by the feds a couple of weeks ago and charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, ended his 31-year career at IBM on Friday.  (more…)

It’s a hot trend and it’s here to stay. Retail marketers at Starbucks, Kraft, and Campbell have discovered that “simple” sells. Products that stress fewer ingredients - food, drinks, cosmetics, even pet food - are outselling rivals, as this USA Today story explains.

But is simple really better, or is this just another fad for health-conscious consumers, not to mention the ever-growing number of people looking for a quick fix so they can continue to gouge themselves on high-fat and sugary foods without feeling guilty? Sure, fewer additives and processing is a good thing, but three simple ingredients - butter, sugar, and flour - will kill you faster than you can say “cardiac arrest.”  

More to the point, tricking consumers with creative marketing is one thing. But will the trend extend beyond consumable products? Is ’simple’ something we should all be watching and considering in our marketing, branding, and positioning? The simple answer to that is yes. Here are …

Five reasons why you should Keep It Simple: (more…)

Regret is a bitter pill to swallow. That’s why, in terms of your career, it’s a good idea to understand opportunities missed and mistakes made in real time. They don’t age well.

Unfortunately, when it comes to career moves, insight can be elusive. And the good moves can be just as perplexing as the bad ones. I’m not sure what’s worse: having one success and being completely unable to duplicate it because you don’t understand how or why it happened, or not facing the fact that you made a bad decision and blew it all on your own.

That why you really have to take a hard look at both the good moves and the bad for them to be of any value. To that end, here are my best and worst career moves and lessons learned. They’re amusing and insightful all by themselves, but in exchange, we’d all like to read and laugh at … I mean learn from yours. That’s the deal, okay? (more…)