ARGHHHHHHHH!

I just spent time writing about the glue that connects people to an organization.
I liked it. I was articulate and passionate--the kind of moment that doesn't always happen.
AND I lost it, deleted it, sent it to some cloud. And my response is ARGHHHHH!

Could I receate it? Probably. Will I? No. Not now anyway.
But it made me remember the ARGHHH feeling that top leaders experience and learn to live with as a very regular part of their job. The ability to manage an organizational ARGHH moments is a CEO skill that separates you from the rest. It may be fundamental.

What does a solid CEO do with AARGH moments?
--Sees that it is indeed an unredeemable event
--Quits fighting the facts
--Gets mad and sad (yes, sad) with one or two trusted colleagues
--Stays quiet and thoughtful for awhile--ie. shuts the door, goes and touches the daily business
--Sighs, breathes and lets go
--Gets good perspective before action
--Keeps stable (there is a CEO attribute if ever there was one)
--Weighs the common good
--Creates a new path
--Moves on

This process can take an hour or a business quarter or a year.
Most of us are too fast or too slow and get stuck on one of the steps.
It is the art of the CEO to know what to do in the ARGHHHHH moments in their company and how to move through them.

And I will come back to the glue that holds a company together.
Just not now. I'm still fighting the fact.

ARE YOU JADED?

Before I started I  had to a self check to see if I was jaded. I'll tell you why. 
I checked my digital account of HBR and didn't want to open the magazine.
--How to Win and Keep Customers
--Where to Find Hypergrowth
--What Keeps CEO's Awake at night
--Building a Workforce for the Future
--Diversity
--How to Learn From Failure

Well, OK. Valid topics but same ol' same ol'. I worked on these same topics for 25 years. 
I began to hear, "blah, blah, blah" in my ears.
Not good. These same topics used to excite me and I actually did great innovative work with my colleagues on each of them. Is it the grinding sameness of what goes on in any business?  Or, has their been no breakthrough thinking about business. Or does breakthrough belong to the new smaller millenial businesses.
I do remember the jaded responses of some of my bosses when I was new in Organizational Development  and had endless enthusiasm about what could be done along with a dose of naivete-- both of which helped me do very bold work in all the above areas.  

I write in the middle of a blizzard in New England so I have some time for musing due to wonderful, wonderful cancellations. So here I sit. And I begin to get interested. 
--Win and Keep Customers sounds like they are objects you use to win a game. 
  Food for thought there. What if we changed that to liking our customers, glad to see customers
  knowing them intimately
--Why Hypergrowth?  What if we don't have room for growth as the ultimate answer. What if rightsizing 
  actually meant something and was the optimal size for maintaining good enough profits over a long time.
--Building a Workforce for the Future. What if workforce needs are universal across age cultures and so are NOW not the future--like meaning, using talents, flexibility, engagement in team production, recognition of contribution, authenticity in leadership to name a few.

So now I'm interested. How did that happen?  
--I had time to be dissatisfied and think without the need for resolution or action
--I had irritation that let me think new thoughts about perennial topics
--I started by being against not for and it spurred my interest
--I used other's thought to jump start my own

So it didn't take an expensive week long event to begin to have "fresh" eyes again.

So maybe You may not be jaded but it is something that creeps up on top leaders.
Think about it. I use to call them the 'salty dogs'. 
  

WHO/WHAT IS THE AUTHORITY IN YOUR COMPANY?

I'm thinking of the turmoil in our world
It's hard for the center to hold with so many of our institutions in chaos and in need of transformation
It is so tempting to turn every event or disruption into a dramatic life or death moment. And, yes there are some that are life or death. You have to know the difference.
A fundamental question in any culture is, "Where does authority reside?"
In God?  In the top leader of the country? In the law?  In money?
(Sometimes in the US I think authority resides in celebrity and fashion)

But for your company, the authority should be in the customer
They are the boss, the power and the  the decider of life or death in your business
When politics knocks at your door--focus on the customer
When moral duty calls --think about your customer
When civic duty pulls--follow your customer
When you get entranced with your own personal power--bow to the customer

The customer is your authority. Stay grounded in that awareness. Be humbled by
The demand to serve customers well
Let your customers be the rudder to guide your company through the churning in the world around you
Stay steady in that focus.