Stop Playing Office!
One of the phrases I often say to CEOs and executives is "Stop playing office".
You may imagine a kid sitting at her dad’s desk, pretending she is running a company, but this is no game.
Time after time, I’ve seen CEOs and executives believe the same story: That you do business by being in the office – buried in meetings, analyzing spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. That’s administering a business – not driving a business.
Get
out, see your customers, talk to your employees, watch the competition in action.
I recently worked with a CEO whose business in another country was not performing well. After a series of lively debates, we agreed they would spend the next six weeks on the road, and at least half a day of most days, with their frontline people.
What they found was very different to what they thought should happen or had witnessed in a fly-by visit.
By being in the field – touching, feeling, listening and seeing – they realized a lot had changed from their original vision. There were many simple to basic to moderate things, that, once changed, made a notable impact on the performance of the business. It was clear that, and although their spreadsheets reflected their lack of expected performance, the time in the business showed them exactly why and how to fix the issues.
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