The pending talent exodus is literally off the radar screen for Dan’s company. He is the chief executive for a small company with a rich sixty year history. The niche markets and the specialty products he produces have created a comfortable living for the over four hundred employees and their families. He has veteran employees that have tremendous knowledge and experience in the work they perform. These sometimes thirty year employees have been the backbone of the company for many years. And truthfully, Dan takes the knowledge and experience for granted. No one on the team is thinking about the tremendous loss the team will experience over the next five to ten years.
Almost twenty years ago, the President of the company that I worked for made the statement, “If I catch any of my managers wasting time on a computer, I will fire them!” I can still recall the days of memorandums that copied others as the primary form of internal business communication. Wow, so much has changed so fast that it is almost impossible to absorb.
I cannot believe that I am writing anything about the year 2020. It almost sounds like a science fiction movie title and yet it is only ten short years away. I say “short” because this past decade flew by at an inconceivable pace in my own mind. The reality of the present is that 2020 is just around the corner and the corner is getting closer as we speak.
January 1st, 2008 came and went as any typical new year’s day. People celebrated the New Year in a vast array of traditions around the world. The hope of a brand new year brought promise of great things to come. Organizational leaders, captains of industry, managers and entrepreneurs all joined the celebration as they have in past years. There were no headlines of concern, no alarms in the corporate conference room and no big fuss about the pending storm of change that would besiege most organizations for years to come. People simply did not notice or even acknowledge the magnitude of change that day would bring to most organizations in the United States.
There is something special about the challenge young people face when attempting to make the team. This healthy competition ignites a desire to perform that cannot easily be replicated for this young generation of Americans. Regardless of the sport, the desire to achieve and play is a remarkable source of motivation. Imagine the organizational potential if an organization could replicate this as source of motivation on the job. What would happen to key organizational metrics like attendance and productivity?
I have always believed and often teach the virtues of hiring the best person for the job. My naivety has also led me to believe that most “right-minded” managers agree with this simple premise. Organizational talent is the foremost indicator of long-term success in the game of business. The team with the best players will win the most games. Blah, blah, blah!
I know… I know…there exists a plethora of books and articles that point us in the direction of solving all of our problems with someone’s version of leadership. As a contributor of contemporary leadership principles, I too often get caught up in the hype of the next great leadership think. Amazingly, with my own love and passion for studying the human need to lead or follow, I am often obscured from some very basic truths. Simply put, without the “right” people on the team, the quantity and quality of the leadership provided will always be limited.
How can such an intelligent and capable executive be so clueless in today’s demanding business environment? How can a company be so blind to pending challenges? The answer to these questions and a peek at the not so distant future is why many chief executives are doomed to fail over the next five years.
I am optimistic by nature and my cynical side is often suppressed to the point of being clueless according to people close to me. Amazingly, when it comes to customer service, I am very critical of most organizations. I do pay attention and take note of very small details about the service I and others receive.
Most CEOs come from three functions in most companies –sales, finance and operations. Ever wonder why so few human resources (HR) executives are chosen to sit in the corner office? Has the position of HR been devalued to an ancillary function on the executive team? If so, how did it get this way?
Leslie leaves her job after 18 years for another that pays about the same amount of money. Raymond leaves his new job of six months for another job that pays 25 cents an hour more with a longer commute. Sarah is looking for a job in another field because she is tired of all the negativity at her current firm. What do these three have in common? They all did not feel appreciated at work.
What exactly are we entitled to in life? Can a sense of entitlement create mediocrity in people? Is entitlement a good thing? Dictionary.com defines “entitle” as… to give (a person or thing) a title, right, or claim to something.
His information is both provocative and engaging. His speeches can be an emotional roller-coaster with the audience laughing one minute and holding back tears the next. Energy and passion are the two most common words used to describe John Grubbs as a speaker and trainer.
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It's a humorous book on Servant Leadership that sells for $20 bucks on Amazon. |
