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.

Q: I’ve attended a few of your seminars, and one thing that you’ve recommended is that people read Jack Welch’s book.

Jim Lukaszewski: Absolutely. In the book, I list 13 or 14 different management literature (sources) people should be reading. Welch’s book is important because it is the diary of someone, pretty much in current time, who is a business CEO. It is how he got the job, what he went through, what he thought about.

He spent the first 10 years firing 200,000 people. They called him Neutron Jack. In the last 10 years he rebuilt the company. There are marvelous management lessons in this book, which is why so much is still written about him. There’s a new book about him every year written by other people.

My point is, really the larger point is, if you want to advise leaders, you have to study leadership and you have to study leaders. I advise people to read about military leaders. Most of the biographies we have are in politics or of military leaders. There are wonderful lessons about how these people think, how they make decisions, what bothers them, where they fail and where they succeed. You have to become a student of leadership to be an effective coach for leadership. (more…)

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…)