1: Imagine taking our seat at a classical music concert. We arrive early, and the orchestra is warming up.
“And it’s a very unpleasant noise because they’re all doing their own flourishes,” observes U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis in CEO Excellence by Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra.
“Suddenly, they stop,” Richard describes. “And then out of stage right comes a human being holding nothing more than a stick who then stands and takes a bow for nothing they’ve done. Yet he or she puts his stick in the air, and beautiful music follows. At the end, the first applause is directed at the conductor, who then acknowledges the performers.
“Not one time did the conductor actually play an instrument, but he or she earned respect from the orchestra for knowing when to have different instruments come in and play louder or softer.”
That’s how the best CEOs see their job, as “the orchestra conductor amid the day-to-day operating rhythm of the company,” Carolyn, Scott, and Vikram write.
“Like a conductor,” Richard observes, “I would find myself in any part of the day trying to find places where I could literally step back and be proud of the decisions that were made in that meeting or humbled that I could create this. And the less I talked, the more I felt like I’d done something well. And then, on occasion, I’d find we were so far off-base that I’d make it more of a teaching moment.”
Google CEO Sundar Pichai strikes a similar chord: Good leadership is often “getting out of the way if things are working well, thanking people for doing a good job, and actually not leaving your footprint at all.”
Successful CEOs do not make many decisions, says Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: “A perfect quarter for me would be one where I’ve made no decisions. . . My approach has always been building muscle and trying to teach principles so that I can do less. Not because I don’t like it, but because the impact is longer lasting.”
2: The CEO must see the bigger picture. “You sit in this job, and you have the broadest view of what’s going on in the company,” says Ecolab CEO Doug Baker. “You need to make sure that your leadership team has that view, too. It’s like being in the crow’s nest. You can just see farther because you’re higher up, so it’s important to make sure everyone has the advantage of that perspective.”
They must maintain this higher level view, says Cincinnati Children CEO Michael Fisher: “The CEO role is one of the few places where processes come together for the benefit of the whole institution. I don’t have the granular knowledge in each area to get too much in the weeds, but as the CEO I try to make sure I understand the key assumptions, that the right people are involved, and that the downstream effects are considered before a decision is made.”
3: The best CEOs demand disciplined execution.
Which begins with having a rigorous approach regarding having consistent information across the entire organization. Says Caterpillar CEO Jim Owens: “We had a lot of cowboy types in our leadership at the plants. Each plant did things a little differently, and manufacturing had an engrained culture.
“So, we challenged the traditional way of thinking by introducing a global, Toyota-type production system with common metrics, process tools, and management systems. We customized it as the Caterpillar Production System. Under our new protocol, everyone needed to complete, measure, and report tasks in a specific way.”
Accurate metrics and analytics are the lifeblood of all great organizations.
“There are commonalities to good leaders,” says JPMC CEO Jamie Dimon. “It starts with a very basic thing, which is the discipline of analytics. I see people who just don’t do the basics right, who don’t understand the details on pricing, products, distribution, variable cost, and fixed cost. It’s like flying an airplane without all the equipment. The first job is to look at the facts. Circulate one set of numbers. And it’s not just financials. I have to remind people, ‘They’re not just financial reviews, they’re business reviews.”
Understanding the key metrics also applies to what competitors are doing: “No matter the issue,” says Jamie, “I’m going to expect that you will have already looked at our peers: what Goldman Sachs does, what Morgan Stanley does, and what Bank of America does. I shouldn’t have to ask whether you’ve looked at what our peers are doing, what the best practices are, and anything like that. A lot of companies don’t do this, and they really don’t know what their competitors are doing. They’re just guessing. We do a real deep dive.”
More tomorrow!
_________________________
Reflection: Am I showing up as a conductor or as a musician in the orchestra?
Action: For one week, keep a detailed log of my interactions with my team. Note instances where I intervened directly versus times I allowed my team to make decisions independently. Reflect on the outcomes of each approach. Identify areas where I can “step back” more, allowing my team to take the lead. At the end of the week, share my insights with my team and ask for feedback on my leadership style.
What did you think of this post?
