There is a pattern to foul times. The press picks up the early scent and relentlessly pursues the trail of woe; nervous companies begin to see the smallest market aberration as evidence of the impending apocalypse; the VC cartel issues warnings of supply interruptions to their funding cocaine and before you know it everyone is curled in the fetal position of fear. Discretionary everything is immediately cut, the keys to the old fiscal Diefenbunker are dug out of the drawer and everyone is told to hunker down. Only the essentials will be stocked and deliberations begin on who to invite inside.
The most productive sales folks can enter as they remain critical. The engineers working on today’s core products can also come inside while those working on tomorrow’s innovations will regrettably have to go. A Director of Engineering will do instead of the Vice-President of Engineering, and as for that big bucks marketing guy, is he really needed right now?
The CFO is a no-brainer and come to think of it, perhaps it is time to upgrade the function. As for the CEO, maybe he or she is kept, maybe not. If the consensus is that the CEO is average, perhaps it is smarter to move the CFO or COO into the corner office to ride out the storm. Such a move saves one large salary and sends a clear message to the troops regarding immediate financial priorities….a new CEO can always be hired when the world gets back to some semblance of normal.
Welcome to the return of the caretaker CEO. A board favorite during inclement times, it is a role tasked with paring, slashing and dieting an organization to health. Heads-down, the caretaker CEO zealously guards the firm’s precious cash while going line by line to root out unnecessary costs. The major deliverable is to keep the business solvent until the clouds begin to dissipate.
Boards of Directors are attracted to caretakers in unkempt times. They contain, control, clean-up, put the lid on everything and keep the lights on until the world comes back. But boards vary widely on the attributes they look for in caretakers. Some view the role in pure custodial terms and thus select solely on financial and administrative qualifications. These boards often get less than they bargained for. Turbulent periods are unpredictable in length, complexity and ferocity and caretakers can occupy these roles for some time. Those who do little more than jockey spread sheets, head counts and costs leave predictable legacies. The organizational body may live but its severely emaciated state will bear different long term health costs.
Others boards take care to elevate stars or up-and-comers into these interim roles. These executives embrace such assignments as admission passes to the CEO ‘big show’ and tackle them in a decidedly enthusiastic manner. Seeking to prove themselves, they keep their heads down while also regularly looking up and outwards to contemplate and deal with the broader business. They are sufficiently self-aware to know their liabilities as first time CEOs and take steps to overcome them. Encouraged by their boards, they seek out mentors, join YPO organizations, seek knowledge and while delivering on today’s tactical demands, they demonstrate more. They are a positive force for change. Some earn the right to remain in the position while those who don’t are better and stronger for the opportunity.
Looking for a dynamic HR role? Stay away from the entrepreneurial tech sector.
January 1, 2012
In a recent survey of HR graduate students, the technology sector rated among the most coveted destinations to ply their trade. It is viewed as a world of innovative people, technologies and approaches where progressive talent management, OB/OD and related HR work awaits.
The Cry to Replace RIM's CEOs – A Truly Dumb Idea
October 13, 2011
Leaving aside the recent service outages, the shellacking of RIM in the press is a tad surreal to behold.
For the few Luddites not familiar with the firm, Research in Motion is the successful Canadian smart phone pioneer with revenues of $20bb per year, no debt and cash in the bank. They manufacture products that remain popular around the world and continue to boast technological innovations unmatched by any competitor. Their most recently launched smart phone devices have been well reviewed and appear to be selling well. And though the company's first version of its new tablet, the Playbook, has room for improvement, it is a promising piece of technology.
Context: When Companies Confuse Start-up Experience for Start-up Experience
October 7, 2011
I had the occasion this week to chat with an entrepreneur still licking his wounds from a stalled startup venture. His tale is a reminder of how easily companies misunderstand organizational context when hiring. For startups, such a misunderstanding can be fatal.
The CEO Hiring Practices at HP
October 3, 2011
The press tells us that Hewlett Packard is the largest technology company in the world with revenues of $126bb. Impressive as those numbers may appear, they do not seem to impress HP's Board of Directors. You see they do not believe that any of the firm's 324,600 employees are capable of leading it. Not one person. Not this year or last year when CEO changes were made. In fact they were apparently not capable six years ago or even eleven years ago when CEO changes were also made. But before summarily indicting the firm's succession planning/leadership development programs, it is useful to consider the track record of the external candidates who were considered better choices than the firm's internal candidates. This analysis decidedly shifts the spotlight to the competence of Hewlett Packard's Board of Directors.
The Folly of Believing What You Read
September 19, 2011
Some time ago we posted a blog titled ‘So you REALLY want to be a CEO?' which looked at the human costs of climbing the upper rungs of the management ladder. The blog was based on a series of articles immediately following the ‘resignation' of Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler. All of these articles presented a cautionary tale of life in the fast lane, the long hours, the extensive global travel, and the shareholder pressures that accompany an uncooperative stock price. They also spoke poignantly of the physical and emotional toll that such unrelenting pressure took on the Pfizer CEO who eventually resigned in order to attend to his family and health. As it turns out however, much of this narrative may not have been true
Before sending us your resume (and then getting frustrated with us) ask who we work for
July 25, 2011
A friend of mine is a trustee in bankruptcy. As his title suggests, he and his firm serves those contemplating the ‘cleansing' process of personal bankruptcy. Potential customers compare service providers, select one, and then pay the chosen firm a fee to initiate and manage the ensuing process on their behalf. However, as soon as the relief-seeking customer signs on the dotted line, the trustee's allegiance shifts to the creditors for whom they then seek to maximize debt recovery. This shift in who works for whom must be a tad unsettling for people who already have a heap of problems and stress on their hands.
What Dating Services Can Teach Companies About Hiring
June 1, 2011
Executive-level hiring is a decidedly aspirational endeavor. Organizations idealize their workplace cultures, select for attributes that will fit into those romanticized environments, and then immerse unsuspecting hires into their ice-cold reality of their works-in-progress.
How to Survive a Startup - by Jill Ram
April 20, 2011
If you're an executive and you're thinking of joining a start-up, know what stage of a start-up to join. If the company is in its first year or so, don't expect to make significant changes. If you join after the company is somewhat established and mistakes have been made and learned from, you'll likely be more successful from the outset. If the founder has stepped aside, well, by then, the company is likely not considered a start-up anymore. It won't be functioning like a big company yet, and it won't have all the structure in place that it needs, but it will be run with more practicality and with less emotion. Timing is everything so choose it well.
Good News for the Old, Overqualified and Overlooked
March 18, 2011
It is expected that a significant percentage of the baby boomer generation will drive right past the Freedom 55 highway exit. For many the goal of early retirement will have proven to be unattainable hype, while for others the ups and downs of working will appear more attractive than the prospects of working up and down the local lawn bowling leadership board.
Pressed for time? Blame those Benedictine Monks.
February 24, 2011
It is among the principal reasons candidates tell us they are open to consider a change in employers. They are tethered to it, yet somehow it still flees. It is time, the most precious of resources, and for many harried executives they want some of it back.
Though their relationship with time may be strained, it is worth pointing out that it was not always this way. In his fascinating book Time Wars, Jeremy Rifkin chronicles the evolution of our modern relationship with time. He points out that in traditional agrarian and pastoral cultures, time was a very naturalistic notion maintained in cyclical, repetitive, biological and even sacred terms. The ‘passing of time' was cued via the changing seasons, biological lifecycles and lunar patterns and thus, the cadence and tempo of those societies were finely tuned to the cyclical rhythms of their physical environments. As he states, "Our early ancestors coveted the circle, perceiving time as eternal return, a ceaseless repetition of an endless cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth". Since these cyclical rhythms could neither be accelerated, nor altered, the cadence of these societies' was natural and harmonious.
The Return of the Caretaker CEO
October 8, 2008