At a time when executives and consultants of every stripe are being asked to do more, the response is too often to dive deeper today into the same tasks performed yesterday, rather than look up and around for what might be a fresher, better approach. We are guided, naturally, by the ways we are measured and compensated. But we often self-impose the restraints of our roles.
It is unlikely the general counsel will offer input to siting a new factory or for the head of marketing to propose a supplier shift or that the process engineer will detail the customer mindset, even though all that ought to be the hope of every CEO. People may be trained or educated in a specific function, but we are not cut off from everything else.
I was reminded recently just how far business is from this optimal environment. Today, most of us don’t look much beyond the title on our business card.
A lawyer tasked with protecting intellectual property may never see the market value of exploiting it, a sales executive pushing the market adoption of new products may never see the opening being created for competitors and an HR director hoping to streamline the recruiting of new talent may be missing the effect technology support has on retention. In each case, people are capable of more. By sticking to their immediate task, they wind up doing less.
It was Silicon Valley that first sought to upend the bright line definition of titles. Ninja, lightning rod, evangelist and trailblazer replaced more prosaic org chart labels and allowed a freer hand to operate across the organization. Some of it has fallen away, but the intent needs to be sustained. It is the difference between a set of managers and a management team.
It requires leadership, right now the domain of the CEO, that can help foster a shared commitment to a mission and not fall back on rank to motivate. It requires a team comprised of people willing to fail and support those who do. It requires a commitment to a constant stream of new data and a skepticism of “how we’ve always done it.” It requires a deep understanding of the customer’s mindset to the exclusion of what makes the most sense for the company. It requires a bit more anarchy than hierarchy.
These attributes are more often found in small, even start-up companies that have not had the time yet to harden their organizational design. But the concepts are being introduced into big companies, whether driven by insight or the unease many feel about industry disruption and rise of consumer influence, both aided and abetted by technology.
The first step is to stop being guided by the title on the bottom of a business card. The second step is to focus on the company’s name on the top of the card. The third step is to look up from the card, and engage with the market that makes the card relevant in the first place.
