For years, I've been telling any leader who'll listen: "Lock yourself out of your office for a day. Lose the keys. Walk around and mingle with your staff and customers." My hope is that they find enough value in mingling that they never look for those keys they've lost. No boss should have an office to hide in.
I wish I'd made this genius advice up myself, but to give credit where credit is due, the concept of "management by walking around" comes from HP's founders, Bill Hewlett and David Packard. Not that they didn't actually have offices of their own, as I espouse in person and, soon, in my upcoming book Spoil Your Customers Rotten. But the core idea is certainly theirs.
...So imagine my delight when I saw the title of Today's New York Times story, "An Office? She'll Pass on That" (http://nyti.ms/9sixc5). And let me tell you, I was not disappointed upon reading the whole article.
Savvy business isn't easy, but it is simple. One of the most important precepts shared by savvy leaders: get your hands dirty. Mix with the people who are making your company happen. Get out from behind that desk and do some work!
*****
Some highlights from this article, an interview of Meridee Moore, founder of Watershed Asset Management, that I especially enjoyed:
Q. What’s it like to work at your hedge fund?
A. We sit in one big open room. It’s the ultimate flat organization. We all have the same size desks. I can hear how the analysts are communicating and asking questions. There are no interoffice memos or office hierarchies. There’s not much that is distilled or screened. When we’re working on something, there’s a lot of back and forth.
Q. How do you hire?
A. We look at grades and scores, of course. We want the person to be competitive. Also, if the person has had a rough patch in his or her past, that’s usually good.
Q. Why?
A. Well, if you’ve ever had a setback and come back from it, I think it helps you make better decisions. There’s nothing better for sharpening your ability to predict outcomes than living through some period when things went wrong. You learn that events aren’t in your control and no matter how smart you are and how hard you work, you have to anticipate things that can go against you.
Q. What else do you ask job candidates?
A. The other question I ask is if they’ve ever been in anyone’s wedding party. If someone has asked them to stand next to him on the most important day of his life, at least one person thinks they are responsible. It means they’ve been able to establish and continue a relationship. It’s not always true, but if you build strong relationships with people, you tend to go into a management meeting or a negotiation and come out of it with some respect. You go into it thinking: “I’m going to leave this situation better than I found it. I don’t have to kill everybody to get to the right result for myself.” These are good qualities in a person and a partner.
For the entire article: http://nyti.ms/9sixc5
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It’s not a completely new lesson, but somehow it still seems to need reminding again and again. It is too easy to get caught up in what we think is “our job” and avoid the “distractions” that lie outside our offices.
ReplyDeleteThe healthier view is that a good portion, if not a majority, of what our jobs as leaders really are is comprised of those “distractions”. We don’t learn anything sitting behind our desks "running the algorithm" day-to-day, we learn when faced with the parts of our business / operation / organization that are creating or encountering friction, running into opposition or just plain breaking down. Its where service happens, where innovation happens, and where true leadership happens.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI am not much aware of this Savvy business. But I liked reading your post especially the interview questions.
What an awesome question!Have you ever been in someone's wedding party? The implications are so profound. I heard a comment from a colleague the other day. She said "I like conflict". Explaining that conflict and friction is what generates breakthrough ideas. It takes maturity and emotional intelligence to positively engage in conflict for the purpose of progressing forward.
ReplyDeleteAnother great example I like to reference is Jan Hommen, CEO of ING who has forgone the corner office for a cubical on the contact center floor.
Ted,
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't already seen it, I think you will appreciate the TV show "UnderCover Boss". Truly shocking how out of touch some leaders have become because they have locked themselves up in the office high above the front line of their businesses (far away from customers and employees). I'd love to hear your take on the show in an upcoming blog.
Pamela