PrimeGenesis Blog
The New Leader’s Journal: Personnel Issues
Ellen continues to be a problem. She’s blocking my communication with her team and exhibiting passive-aggressive behavior. She’s also never come to me to say she’s enjoying working with me, which isn’tthat significant on its own, but it would at least be a sign that...
Leadership Lessons from Bloomberg, Christie, Katrina and Irene
I spent the night after Hurricane Irene hit helping out in the Red Cross shelter in Stamford, Connecticut. Six years ago, my sons and I spent a week with a group from our church helping out in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit. Talk about a tale of two cities!...
The New Leader’s Journal: Early Wins
I changed my mind on the early win. I’d originally thought we’d focus on a new advertising campaign. Still think that’s important. It’s just going to take longer than I’d expected. On the other hand, we should be able to launch some new PR efforts sooner, so we will...
Steve Jobs’ Wake Analysis
It’s a wonderful feeling to plow through time occasionally looking back at the high performing people smiling in your wake. It doesn’t happen by accident. You have to decide it’s important to you. You have to invest the time and energy to make it happen. Make those choices. A lot of people will thank you. Certainly a lot of people at Apple will be thanking Steve Jobs. See my note on Why Apple is Doing Well Without Steve Jobs for more on how Tim Cook did as interim CEO, suggesting he’ll do great as full-time CEO as well.
Steve Jobs’ wake analysis will be different than most others’. Steve’s vision, risk-taking and follow-through in the pursuit of new and amazing things leaves behind an entire world of people like me whose lives have been measurably improved both rationally and emotionally, all of whom owe Steve a huge debt of thanks.
The Power of a Consistent Message Illustrated by WNET’s CEO, Neal Shapiro
From his very first day in January, 2008, Shapiro has been driving a message of innovation and re-invention. As he puts it,
It’s the only way to stay relevant; it’s the only way to stay in business…and that has had its challenges since many people have worked here for more than 20 years.
Shapiro’s first effort to communicate his message was to create new programs centered around WNET’s core strength of arts and culture: two weekly local arts programs–one called Sunday Arts, which features the great museum exhibits, films, galleries and performances going on in New York City, and the other called Reel 13, which airs on Saturday nights and pairs a classic movie with an indie film and a short film created by our viewers. WNET had not truly taken advantage of creating programming to reflect the rich cultural offerings in the city—nor the artistic talent of its viewers.
Other ways he drove his message of innovation and reinvention included:
Tapping into the trend of user generated content and launched a documentary in which viewers sent in video and interviews.
Taking down the existing website, which had limited video, and replacing it with a content rich, video centric site that PBS used as a model to create its own web video player;
Launching an international news program called World Focus, where Shapiro encouraged laptop editing, which saved considerable amounts of money, and more efficient use of partnerships (Associated Press, Al Jazeera and others) to cut down on field reporting expenses;
Building a two-story studio within Lincoln Center with cost-efficient robotic cameras and a set which can be used for many different purposes.
100-Day Action Plan: A Cheat for the Good
Let me be clear from the start. Most cheating is bad. Fraud, dishonesty, unfaithfulness are hard to condone. But some cheating is good. No one gets too upset if a shortstop cheats towards second base or a center half-back cheats towards...
The New Leader’s Journal: Milestone update II
Second milestone meeting – worked much better. People circulated updates in advance. Each person highlighted their group’s wins, learnings, and where they needed help in the first half of the meeting. Then we had some good discussions about the top priorities in the...
In Selling Commodity Products, Zig When Your Competitors Zag
By the end of your first 100-Days, you should have made significant steps toward aligning your people, plans, and practices around a shared purpose. Remember, this is not a one-time event but, instead, something that will require constant, ongoing management and Darwinian improvement.
In this particular case, McDowell didn’t have to look very far into the future to realize that doing the same thing the same way as everyone else was not going to have a happy ending. Instead, the Finch leadership team made some tough choices.
Choosing to zig when everyone else is zagging is not that difficult if everyone else is going in a bad direction. It’s a harder choice when you know the zaggers are going in a good direction. As my partner Harry Kangis suggests, the hardest strategic choice is choosing not to do something that’s a good idea – for somebody else. This is what’s so powerful about Finch’s strategy. They are avoiding profitable and popular market segments where they would have just another commodity and focusing on the areas where they can win.
Plans are Not Made to be Followed
We spend the vast majority of our time helping new leaders create and implement 100-day action plans. Over the past decade or so, I can not think of a single instance in which a new leader actually followed the original plan he or she created. Think...
The New Leader’s Journal: Milestone update I
Well, that was an ugly meeting. No one circulated their updates in advance. People didn’t follow the meeting format. It ended up being a free-flowing conversation instead of an update. I thought I had set the direction in advance. But they weren’t seeing things the...