The Good, The Bad, The Spin

Read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.

Q: I’m wondering if there are any experiences you can relate similar to the one you mentioned about this gentleman, Rocky, about some of the things we’ve been talking about?

Jim Lukaszewski: Here’s an example: I’m not an attorney but I have a very large litigation-related practice, both civil and criminal.

Today we are prosecuting and persecuting more senior executives as leaders than we have ever in history. I spend a lot of time with senior executives who are caught up in these problems. I was working with a guy a couple of years ago. This is a CEO of a Fortune 500 company who was going to be indicted. On the day he was indicted, we talked.

A lot of things change when an executive is indicted. He technically loses his job, for example. The bylaws of virtually every corporation say, “If you are the subject of a criminal action, you will be suspended with pay but you will no longer serve in a decision-making capacity.” Basically, the day he was indicted was the day he went on paid leave. (more…)

Read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

Jim Lukaszewski: Doing things in real time is really important because the boss has three fundamental goals as leader. The first thing they have to do is to find new places to go. They’re the person that goes over the horizon to see where it is we have to be heading based on where we are today. Their job is then to come back and tell us about it. So the major role that any leader has is to be the chief strategist. Strategy is all about tomorrow–where we’re headed. This person is head strategist in the organization.

The second thing these people have to do is once they’ve decided on new destinations, is to prime the people to get the job done. When you look at where the organizations fail on leadership, it is either they pick crummy destinations or they fail to influence the people to get the vision accomplished.

The third thing these people have to do is go into the organization—and this is communication—and teach and coach and reiterate and remind them of what the mission is, where we’re headed, why we’re going there, why people should be motivated and energized to get these things done.

The remaining roles of these leaders is to monitor, to tweak things, to identify where they have to change direction to modify what their findings were and that sort of thing. A lot of this is communication.

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Read part 1, part 2.

Jim Lukaszewski: The other question I get quite often is, “If I can only get to this guy, I could really help him but by boss is in the way.” My response is, “Here’s what I suggest you do: Teach your boss the things you know how to do, and teach your boss how to teach his boss how to do it.”

I think the real risky strategy is going around your boss and trying to somehow intervene in this other person’s environment. That’s a suicide strategy. If you can work for a boss that won’t let you get to the big guy, and won’t do what you’re talking about, the answer’s pretty simple—you better make another career choice real soon.

Another question I get asked is this: “I know what this person should be doing. I know in my heart what he should be doing, I know in reality what he should be doing, but he simply will not do it. What can I do? What can you tell me Mr. Magician Lukaszewski, Mr. Guru Lukaszewski, to make him do what I want him to do?” (more…)