Executive tenure depends on your ability to change or adjust
If everything inside your business were running like clockwork, wouldn’t you be on the golf course, out surfing, or sipping margaritas with friends?
The fact that you’re reading this article is because you’re still looking for answers to the significant, persistent and recurring problems that pose a direct challenge to you personally as a leader! Don’t panic, because you’re not the only one; our management education has failed us all.
In the good old days, one could get away with an excuse such as a changing trend in consumer behavior, the longer than expected adoption cycle of a state of the art computer platform, or just the unpredictability of a global economy.
Today, Boards have become less lenient towards CEOs when it comes to under performance. As a result, CEO tenure has dropped and shareholder derivative suits are increasingly successful at replacing a CEO. How effective are you at solving those recurring and persistent problems, let alone when confronted with new or unforeseen circumstances?
Given the fact that about every business has seen their room for maneuver shrink, every executive decision maker has seen its margin for error reduced. In conclusion, executives face more uncertainty, more accountability, and less tolerance for mistakes. Today’s business climate demands higher CEO-Effectiveness than ever before, and that’s what made me believe that you would want to read this article.
Before investing in the next solution aimed at the many significant, persistent and recurring challenges to profitability and sustainability, be reminded that whatever one intents to achieve in business, it can only be realized with and through the business system under one’s command and control. There’s no other way!
Any solution that promises an immediate contribution to the bottom line through more automation, higher efficiency, faster production, real-time information, or any other best practice on topics such as global leadership, strategic planning, branding, or social media, is just an investment in doing more and better of the same. Then, no wonder that the same challenges persist or keep coming back again-and again. There shouldn’t be any surprise!
If you are serious in your desire for a different outcome, then change the system; change the structure with which the organs of your organization are connected; how they relate and interact with each other.
In order to bring about such physical change, you must start embracing the transformation of your own thought patterns by studying patterns that disrupt business as usual. For example:
√ Leading with creativity and innovation instead of following best practices.
√ Increasing CEO Effectiveness instead of obsessing about organizational efficiency.
√ Developing a system’s capacity and capability instead of growing it in size or number.
√ Fostering adaptability to new and unforeseen circumstances instead of pursuing the quest for certainty.
√ Focusing on change management instead of persisting in routine or business as usual.
Instead of trying to keep up with the latest techniques, skills and tricks, why not invest your time and money in learning the principles that govern any business system in good and bad economic times? Would you rather enjoy peace of mind or endure decisional conflict and stress about your personal performance and thus tenure! It’s a choice and it’s yours to make. What will you commit to doing next?