Quote of the Day:

“We spend a lot of time teaching leaders what to do. We don’t spend enough time teaching leaders what to stop. Half the leaders I have met don’t need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.” 

Peter Drucker

Have been meaning to mention that I attended a luncheon a few weeks ago where Bill Holstein spoke about the relationship between CEOs and the media. Bill is an award-winning editor and journalist who regularly writes about CEOs and board members. You have probably seen his name mentioned in The New York Times, Fortune, BusinessWeek and so on. Bill just wrote a book for Harvard Business School Press titled Manage the Media (Don’t Let the Media Manage You). It is part of a new series of HBS books called Memo to the CEO. These books provide leaders with advice on a wide variety of topics pertinent to top executives.  The premise of the book is that CEOs are not managing the media well and instead are having their reputations shellacked. Bill’s advice is to manage the relationships with the media for the long-term, not just when you need it. He advises proactively working with shareholder groups, using social media, architecting messages and never underestimating the importance of communications. Instead of living in a “gotcha” media environment, take control or your reputation will suffer.

Bill had a few unconventional ideas. He suggested that all CEOs in training spend one year training in the communications department to learn how to articulate their messages better and understand the media. His hope of course would be that rising stars would see joining the corporate communications department as an opportunity and not as punishment or a career detour. Not sure this will happen soon. His second suggestion had to do with his belief that many reporters do not really understand what CEOs do. He suggested an Adopt A Reporter program where CEOs educate reporters on the overwhelming complexity of the corner office. I thought that these ideas did a good job of challenging the status quo. 

An article in the Economist (December 1, 2007) writes about embattled British prime minister Gordon Brown: “Yet governments can reach a tipping point after which they find it impossible to govern. People neither like nor trust politicians, but usually suspend their disbelief when a new lot takes over. Once it seems clear that a prime minister is unlikely to improve things, and may not even be around for long, that suspension is over: the civil service starts leaking; cabinet ministers start briefing; the press looks for bad-news stories; and government becomes defensive and unfocused.”

Sounds to me alot like a CEO’s first year…research has shown that by about nine months, employees have a second sense that things will either work or not work with their new chief executive.  Proof again that those first three to six months for leaders can make or break their reputations. First impressions are very costly. No time to waste.

Returned back home from my trip overseas in time for Thanksgiving. It is always reassuring to witness how the topic of reputation is so relevant no matter what part of the world you are in. Of course, did some reading on the plane back and found some good quotes and items of interest to share.

This one from Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony, in BusinessWeek about what he plans to do after his gig at Sony ends. Stringer says: ”God, sink giggling into the sea, I think. I have no interest in being a CEO again if I survive this intact, which in itself will be something of a miracle.”  Stringer is right about making it to the end of his tenure. CEO lifespans are getting shorter and turnover higher. We at Weber Shandwick will be releasing an update on our CEO Departures study next week and CEOs of the world’s largest companies are departing approximately every 5 days.  Good news for Stringer however. I think that since he has made it thus far, he might see it to the end which on average is 4-5 years.

Stanford University, McKinsey and LSE’s Center for Economic Performance ranked 12 countries on their management practices. Overall, US companies are the best managed followed by Germany, Japan and Sweden. Not bad for being recognized as having a good country reputation for well-managed corporations. The worst managed country awards go to India and Greece. The UK is in the middle of the continuum with its neighbors’ France and Italy.

On other management variables, best people management (performance and merit-based) goes to the US, UK and India. The best operational management kudos (continuous improvement and shopfloor operations) go to Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Sweden. Family run companies have the worst reputations for management (apparently this brought down UK scores since they are in abundance there). Interestingly too is that nearly 9 out of 10 managers report that their companies are better managed than average. The researchers politely conclude that managers need to get a better handle on their firm’s true management abilities. They are too optimistic!

Happy thanksgiving wherever you are!

The New York Times today has a front page article in the business section today on the next wave of CEOs. The article “C.E.O. Evolution Phase 3″ was apparently written as a direct result of recent high profile CEO departures at major financial services companies suffering huge losses from the subprime mortgage fallout. The article’s sub-title was “After Empire Builders and Repair Experts, the Team Captain.”

I can’t help but think that this story has already been written. There seems to have been a general theme in the news media that we went from celebrity CEOs and empire builders to post-Enron custodial turnaround CEOs.  Don’t get me wrong but the Team Captain is not a new leadership theme. Our research at Weber Shandwick on Safeguarding Reputation and the research I have been conducting on CEOs for years has always found that bench strength is critical to building CEO and company reputations. I am now going to wait for the next article in the top-tier media on the Eco-CEO such as GE’s Immelt and others. It cannot be far away.

Since I do collect CEO quotes, there were a few that I highlighted to put on our reputationRX site:

“It’s someone who can assemble a team that functions as smoothly as a jazz sextet.” (USC’s Warren Bennis)

“Both felt the need to make sure the top hundred people know that they’re in this together, that their fates are correlated.” (Referring to P&G’s CEO Lafley and Boeing’s CEO McNerney.)

“The academic research says if you want to predict what the future financial performance over the next one to three years will be, you need to know the top team.” (Wharton’s Michael Useem)

There are so many variations on explaining the next generation of CEOs…what happened to the Tech CEO or the Consensus CEO. Is there room for an Organic CEO or Shy CEO or Spiritual CEO? What about the Safety CEO? In light of recent product recalls, privacy issues and environmental disasters, can the Safety CEO be far from view? I don’ think so. I can even name a few.

This week I was at an engaging dinner in Belgium with my colleagues and distinguished guests. In addition to discussing how the reputation landscape is radically changing, we found ourselves talking about preparing CEO-elects for the media. One gentleman told the story about a brand new CEO who was asked by a broadcast journalist “How much does a pound of coffee cost today?” The new CEO stammered. The question could just as well have been: “How much does a quart of milk cost today?” The story is a good reminder of how the slightest slip up can smudge a new CEO’s reputation. The episode made me think of another new CEO who was asked on announcement day who had been most influential in their success. Unfortunately the new CEO did not mention the outgoing CEO who happened to be sharing the podium with him. One of those embarrassing moments that we all wish we could rewind and “do over.” Oftentimes CEOs are prepared to answer all those many questions on growth, balance sheets, share price and strategy. Little do they think that some media might ask them about their favorite book, movie or grade school teacher. Since new CEOs are often asked the oddest questions, here are a few that CEOs should be prepared to answer:

What word best describes you?

What’s the secret of your success?

What’s your motto?

What did you want to be when you grew up?

What has been your greatest personal achievement?

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned over the years?

Wo

• Who would you like to take to lunch, and why?