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It’s all about values—yours!

By Nicole Norfleet, Times Staff Writer

Art McNeil executive coach, speaker, and author

McNeil coaches executives in and around Tampa Bay.   Last year, he launched The Baton Management System., a web-based self help program for CEOs wanting to take their company to the next level and create transferable wealth. His advice for companies that are suffering through recession — replace what you know with  processes for finding out and taking action faster than the competition.  He talked with the Times from his Tampa home last week.

Why is the hurricane is a meaningful metaphor for what businesses are facing today?

During tough times great leaders remain centered.  When an operational hurricane is raging around them, they step out of the turbulence and take micro-second trips to a calm center.  Their calm center consists of what they believe. No matter how confused the situation, no matter how out of control events are around them, they center themselves by asking, “what action can I take that remains true to my values?  Enron, for example was dealing with a market hurricane. Their stock was down—shareholders were unhappy.  Somebody suggested transferring expenses (temporarily) to make a quarter look good.  That concession greased a slippery slope.  Hiding expenses became an acceptable tactic.  Nobody stepped up and said, “Hold on, is expense hiding ethical?”

You said you consider yourself a “corporate exorcist.” What does that mean?

There are many remnants of the industrial age hanging around that CEOs are seldom aware of. The way many people are organized for work, the belief that a boss should know everything, is from an age long gone.  Knowledge eventually becomes a liability because if you know you don’t have to learn.  In the shift age continuous improvement is essential.

Should CEOs model a calm center when their company is in a hurricane?

There is no hierarchy to leadership.  Leadership must be everybody’s business. Management is about orchestrating plans, process, and positions, to produce results.  Leadership, by contrast,  is about the generation of energy, creativity, will to win, and the desire to belong—you can manage positions, but you must  lead people.

Who encompasses what you believe makes a leader excellent?

Apple has done a magnificent job.  Co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs is a great leader because he attracts creative people and fosters impassioned teams. Over the years, they’ve come up with one great idea after another. He leads a learning organization—but hires tough process managers that now how to bring projects in on time and on budget..

You say that CEOs shouldn’t focus exclusively on trending data. Is that advice still relevant?

In my coaching practice, I ask “what do your folks know that might hold you back?  For example, a construction company may know that their way of installing windows is best.” Really…when was the last time they checked? Knowledge can be a liability because people whoo know don’t have to learn.  The collection of data is yesterday’s news—important, don’t get me wrong, but it’s still yesterday’s news. The big question is, “what are you going to do with data from a market that’s changing faster than ever before? Your  data may be trying to measure a  world that no longer exists.

Do your lessons also apply outside the business realm?

When the executive function isn’t being performed well at home (or at work), the kids (employees) will act out. I went back to school at age 50 and earned a graduate degree in applied behavioral science—studying leadership, group dynamics,  and dysfunctional families. I believe that what goes on around the kitchen table is no different than what goes on around the boardroom table—just bigger words and larger consequences.  When you get to the truth, it applies everywhere.   When turbulent events pull you off course, at home or at work, without a calm “values center” the hurricane will blow you away.

What’s the most important advice you give to CEOs?

Never stop learning…speed of the leader, speed of the pack and all that.  Hire an executive coach or join a group of non competing peers that will hold you accountable. Don’t expand unless you have the capacity  to stop acting like a “play by ear” jazz band and the courage to perform  like an orchestra, aligning contributors using the business equivalent of a musical score—process.