 |
| illustration by John Lang |
The news is full of CEOs being shown the door.
Chief executives from Country-wide, Bear Stearns, Lehman Bro-thers, IndyMac, Washington Mutual—the list goes on—are all out. They were supposed to be the head coaches of their enterprises, but they failed to understand their own companies and the overall environment.
They needed someone to provide a reality check about how they were doing—not from consulting firms like Deloitte or Grant Thornton about the business itself, but from someone who could coach them personally.
So, who coaches the head coach?
CEOs who seek help are likely to be following orders from their boards of directors. That’s frequently how C-level executives find themselves with Dr. Jeannine Sandstrom, co-founder and CEO of Dallas-based CoachWorks International Inc. One of Sandstrom’s clients was told to get help after churning through several CFOs and COOs.
“He was typical of a CEO who was very successful in what’s usually considered the ‘business’ part of the job,” she says. “For a long time, no one wanted to say that wasn’t enough.”
Sandstrom says it’s often unrealistic to expect the CEO to be coached by people who report to him or her, or by the board itself. “When the CEO is just sharing his thoughts, he risks having those thoughts taken as directives,” she says. “Perhaps he doesn’t want to look as if he isn’t sure about his command of issues, or his ideas for the future. Plus, one big risk is that people can’t resist telling others what the CEO said to them.”
Harold Rosbottom, founder and CEO of Rosbottom Interests, a Dallas-based private-equity firm, didn’t wait to be told. In 2003, he turned on himself the same critical faculties he’s used to achieve his company’s success.
Rosbottom’s company invests its own equity and has relied on a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. But Rosbottom realized that he was not only the founder and CEO, he was chief-everything-else. He hired an executive coach to gain perspective.
“He told me I had what he called ‘drive-by shooting’ management,” recalls Rosbottom. He worked with the coach several days a month in order to listen better and provide more focused feedback to those around him. “I’m going back for more,” he says. “The company is still much too dependent on me if we’re going to grow to the next level.”
Rosbottom’s decision to go back is echoed by Nancy Brown, COO of the Dallas-based American Heart Association. Brown says she “recognized the value of having a personal coach at various times in my career.”
Sandstrom calls coaching “basic business acumen, but many CEOs have been so focused on operational issues that they’ve never stepped back to absorb these broader lessons.” Adds Brown: “Having a trusted coach to provide feedback is invaluable in one’s growth and development.”
Growth and development tells the story in a nutshell. Experts say that means learning how to assess the organizational structure, and all those other things about business relationships that one doesn’t learn at business school.
So, even the head coach shouldn’t be afraid to ask for a coach. If, that is, he or she is serious about hanging on to that top job.
Spaeth is one of the country’s leading communications strategists. After serving as President Ronald Reagan’s director of media relations, she founded Dallas-based Spaeth Communications in 1987. She is also a lecturer at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business.
TALKING POINTS FOR CEOS
A 20-second, elevator-ride-style conversation with Addison resident Barry Mike, managing director of CRA Inc., which has worked to improve CEO communication skills for 20 years:
Rule 1: What “CEOs need to know about addressing their employees is that everything communicates—from the car you drive to the clothes you wear to the way you walk,” Mike says. “Look at your car. Six months [after employees first spot it], you’ll see a lot more cars like yours. Because everything you do communicates something.”
Rule 2: Execs can’t not communicate. Because if there’s bad news, and an executive doesn’t communicate quickly, gossip and speculation are sure to fill the void.
Rule 3: Not all communications are equal. People will first watch CEO actions. That means wrecking crews smashing drywall sends a louder message than a manager talking about eliminating “silos.”
Rule 4: Executives need to evaluate what they would like to achieve in communicating, before they start talking. First, Mike says, identify what employees need to know to achieve company goals—and then tell them. “I tell CEOs that if you don’t know your objective, you’re unlikely to achieve it.” —Dave Moore
