Strategy is a healthy mix of art and science. Unfortunately, too many organizations approach strategy as if were alchemy. Adding formal project management practices to the strategy program increases the “science” component and improves a firm’s chances of success for a successful initiative as well as for sustaining of an on-going, healthy program.
As a leader, you are on display every day and in every exchange and how you conduct yourself is observed very closely by all around you. Lose your cool, snap at a subordinate, act like the spoiled tennis player above, and you not only fail to build your professional credibility, you damage it. Alternatively, if you recognize that the moment in time when things are heading the wrong way is a remarkable opportunity to build credibility and create powerful learning opportunities for your team members, you will conduct yourself with grace under fire.
I talk with a lot of marketing and sales managers and have spent most of my life working in these environments. In spite of the dramatic advancements in software tools available, I still find gaping holes in the way many sales and marketing organizations manage and account for the flow of leads into the sales pipeline. Although there are undoubtedly some technology constraints, I suspect that the primary issue is one of process more than anything else. Employed properly, changes in the output of the lead refinery foreshadow expansion or contraction of volume in the sales pipeline. Here are some thought-starters:
Bob is leaving behind the business that he helped start and grow and save and grow and sell and sell again, and no one in BIGCO cares. Frankly, no one in the upper ranks even knows that he exists. The dirty little secret: he's just another faceless number on a spreadsheet and his departure will improve the expense to revenue ratio, and solve an annoying compensation problem in this now remote outpost of BIGCO. Bob is in the prime of his career, an expert and one of the last shreds of the soul of a great business. Bob is relieved to be moving on, but to BIGCO, it's not even noticeable. Good for Bob. There's more.
Product Management's position in the organization is a topic that invites vigorous debate, usually around whether marketing or development should own the function. While any debate about optimal organization structure can sound a lot like the radio and television sports shows where people argue fiercely over the greatest running back or quarterback of all time (there is no one right answer!), the PM issue merits some consideration. Of course, the right answer may be, "It depends."
The best leaders understand that one of their principal responsibilities is to shape the working environment that determines how their team members communicate, collaborate, innovate and problem-solve.
As a Product Manager/Marketer, the more time you spend in the office, the less intelligent you become every day about the real situation of your offerings and your clients. You cannot build relationships, gain critical insights and frankly, grow as a professional from your office or cubicle chair. As important as all of your internal tasks are, you cannot create value for your firm by cloistering yourself in endless meetings and only gaining critical market context on the other end of a telephone.
One of the many priceless discussion threads during the interview, focused on the challenges of developing leadership and individual contributor talent in technical organizations. Specifically, he railed at the "single career-track" approach that in his opinion results in many otherwise great individual contributors pursuing leadership roles for the wrong reasons regardless of their interest or capabilities for leading. There is wisdom in his perspective.
Most high performance leaders that I know understand that they need to shift gears and get away from the day-to-day firefight once in awhile or they risk burning out. Quite a few of these leaders learned this lesson the hard way, succumbing at some point early in their career to the often self-imposed requirement to keep running at top speed out of fear of falling behind. A few cultures that I have been around actually encourage (or at least, don't discourage) this destructive pace, almost as part of some bizarre survival-of-the-fittest ritual. One of your core responsibilities to yourself and to your team members is to stay on top of your game mentally and physically (they go hand in hand). You owe it to everyone around you to be at your mentally sharpest when guiding, mentoring, helping with decision-making or engaging with colleagues. Just like the human body and brain needs sleep to function, I'm convinced that your effectiveness is function of giving your work-mind frequent and appropriate breaks to process and to recharge.
"The only way that you will succeed on my team is if you are married to the job!" "The reason that I am not in any family vacation pictures is because I'm on the phone. If I'm in the picture, I have a blackberry stuck to my ear." Yeesh. What a jerk! The quotes speak volumes about this individual's leadership style, priorities and character. A "my way or the highway" approach, coupled with an "I will succeed on the backs of your labor and you will help me succeed or else," philosophy. It also speaks volumes about the culture in the organization that tolerates this leader's style.
