The CEO prowled the stage like a panther. He had total control of PowerPoint, was animated in sharing his experience and made the thousands in the conference hall feel as if he was speaking directly to them. The team left the keynote feeling inspired to produce great things, confident in their decision of joining the organization. Having been a founding partner in this firm some years earlier, no one had to prep the CEO for his keynote…..he lived the organizational purpose and was able to perfectly articulate an according vision to the masses. They believed in him, not because he convinced them to, but because he was perfectly in tune with the genuine organizational intent. He knew why they were in business and he made sure every one of his 10,000 employees understood this as well.
10 beers and a plane ride later the employees returned to their respective markets. They authored emails quoting the CEO and asked customers if they were aligned with their company’s core values. At some point, local leadership intervened in the torch carrying parade. “It’s great that you are quoting the CEO but you need to focus on selling our products. Asking customers their vision and values has nothing to do with selling our widgets now get back to taking orders; we have a revenue goal to meet”, said Manager A to the abruptly uninspired employee. And just like that the idealism of organizational purpose was killed by the process management.
It happens to so many companies. They go from start up to corporation and lose site of their purpose. The CEO went back to his board of directors speaking of the young and inspired sales professional who he had met at the National Meeting. He was unaware that as his company went from 100 people to 10,000 employees his vision became a process. The intent to inspire was replaced with metrics for driving revenue. The stock looks good so the Board or Directors don’t complain. The ivory tower grows taller and the villages in the valley grow farther apart.
This man had dedicated his life to transitioning his start up venture into a Fortune 1000 company and he had more money than he would ever need. In the process of doing so he felt he never lost site of his vision. Unfortunately, he was unable to convey to his line managers that his vision was theirs to carry from the tower to their village.
Every organization reaches a tipping point. That point when your vision becomes a company, later an organization, and at some point a corporation. As companies grow the vision gets further from reality and process takes over. We lose site of our purpose for waking up in the morning and punch the clock. Every executive in every company knows how to deliver his/her message. The question is at what point do they stop believing the message? If the top executive does not believe, their employees will not either, and their customers will realize that the dream has become a commodity. Then it’s work: clock punching, reporting……….and nothing more! The CEO may never even realize the point at which his/her dream died.
Each and every executive lives to work: determined effort, intelligent contingency planning, strategic hiring, customer development, wise financial forecasting. It seems almost unavoidable that the organizational purpose (The WHY) is clouded by business efficiency (The WHAT) as a company grows past a certain size. Next week, we will share a few ideas from the trenches with the aforementioned CEO to keep him focused on the why more than the what….and to keep his dream intact!
Stay Tuned,
Dave
