CEO Note to Self

STOP TREATING THE BASICS LIKE NEW CONCEPTS--JUST GET IT DONE AND KEEP IT DONE.  


Why do we keep circling back to the basics of running a company as if they were something new and exciting.  To keep reading articles and books about fairness and participation and recognition and feedback and development is making me nuts.  Does business have to live in perpetual Groundhog Day.
Can't anything stay done. 

Listen to some of what I just scanned in recent business writing:

Women are 50 % of the world and need to be 50% of our talent. (Fascinating)
We need business friendly family policy.  (Yep, yep, yep)
We need equal pay for equal work. (How long has this been going on?)
We need respectful/inclusive workplaces. (Do tell)
We need civility AND we need to spell out behaviourally what that is? (Maybe for Cro-Magnon leaders!)
We need to align people and get their buy-in.  (No kidding).
People need recognition and to know how their work fits into the whole. (Yawn)
Balance the chaos of innovation with the stability of the core business. (Okey dokey)
People perform better with feedback and challenge. (You don't say.)

I'm getting bored as a write.

Not that these things aren't important.
Rather that they are SO important that they ought to have been nailed long ago. 
What is it that keeps the basics of leading an organization treated as though it were new and novel?
How come learning doesn't stick?  
How come there has to be a new flavor of the day to remind you of the basics?   
Developmental talent review!!!  Shocking!  Let's try it!  Civil behaviour!!  Let's roll it out and teach civility.  Great idea!  Yawn and growl both.

There is some kind of learning disability here.  ADHD at the organizational level.
Top leaders-- you have to  demand that the basics are absolutely solid.  Then you can build on a foundation that is ready for stretch, for new markets, for disruption, for building continuous growth and organizational health.
Please nail these basics. They need to be routine and embedded in your company.  Then you can  do your particular brand of leadership and give your particular leadership gift.