Overcoming Internal Barriers to Leadership
Source: ESMT Berlin
Word Count: About 700, approximate reading time 3 to 4 minutes. Please share your thoughts in the comments. Please be kind and subscribe to my newsletter.
Set Up to Fail. That is the title of a recent article from MIT's Sloan School of Management. The authors contend that one of the key reasons C-suite average tenure is just over 5 years is that the jobs are poorly designed. The jobs are built and filled in a way that prevents long-term success. Their study shows that the expectations, responsibilities, and the candidates' experience are not aligned more than 33% of the time. Not only does poor design create barriers to success, total compensation packages often exaggerate behaviors that lead to failure.
Poor designs also create barriers that keep executives from being effective leaders. Most reward systems focus on easily captured metrics such as financial returns, budget management, and sales results. To grow teams or build lasting customer relationships, leaders often have to make decisions that may not immediately impact their performance metrics. This conflict often leads to bad behavior. We frequently see articles like The Real Reason Toxic Leaders Keep Getting Promoted from Quartz. The word toxic is used too frequently. Often managers make decisions based on metrics that crate demanding work environments. Toxic workplaces result when managers are not able or do not choose to find equilibrium between leading people and hitting performance targets. Great leaders find that balance.
Book Review
Pitch Like Hollywood: What You Can Learn from the High-Stakes Film Industry
– By Peter Desberg and Jeffrey Davis
Selling your ideas is an everyday part of business life. Typically we think in terms of sales pitches. In reality, selling happens in all aspects of the business. Whether we are making budget requests, justifying business process changes, or recruiting people to join your team, you are pitching. Pitching is often informal and is always iterative. Pitch Like Hollywood explores pitching with a narrow focus on the entertainment industry. These stories shared reinforced what we commonly understand as part of the process of influencing decision-makers. The goal of any proposal is to rally people to a call to action.
The book's best parts talked about the presenter's emotional and physical response to the nervousness that comes with a pitch. Several good techniques to help prepare for a pitch are included.
A great opportunity missed in the book. Following a single project from beginning to end would have been helpful. The initial pitch for a movie and the final movie is part of an evolutionary process. The initial presentation secures the first round of funding. Additional talent joins the team, taking the story to the next level. As more producers and directors are engaged, the collaborative creative process results in refinements to the project. It would have been interesting to see how movies like Nightmare Alley, Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood, or Get Out changed from the initial pitch to the final best picture nominated project. Because we have seen these films, the impact would have been significant.
Overall this is a good book with some new content but missed chances to show the end-to-end process of pitching over time.
What I'm Up To
We went to see Top Gun Maverick last weekend. Very entertaining and definitely a film that should be experienced on a big screen. We enjoy streaming. Over the past few weeks, my wife and I watched Julia, Hacks, and Barry on HBO Max. We are currently watching The Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix.
I have worked with people who believe every waking hour should be spent working or reading business books. I think that taking time to relax is essential to doing your best work.
Quote of the Week
"When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."
– Charles Goodhart
The Leader With A Thousand Faces is available on Amazon.
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