Ramblings of a CEO

In a start-up company or a new division, sometimes the most innocent or simple words or actions may be misconstrued, and what was a mole-hill becomes a mountain of issues. Thus, the undertaking dies a miserable death because of disconnect, not disruption.

Call in the management gurus and they can consult you to the edge of bankruptcy, but the problems still remain.

Speed dial your leadership coaches and they can pinpoint the problem, but the execution of the solution and its sustenance becomes the bigger challenge.

CEOs can be both boss and leader, and instruct or command peace and harmony, but issues continue to linger.

HR can be everyone’s best friend, but they get grilled from both staff and management on "why harmony doesn’t look like this".

Here are some examples of situations that, if not nipped in the bud, may flower into something that "stinks" like fertiliser (without the benefits). I have stayed away from specific examples of people and companies so as to protect the "innocent", LoL, but most readers will have their own examples.

– Helping out versus showing up: the more insecure a person, the more words/actions are interpreted the wrong way. Eventually you have to let this person go as explaining becomes too time consuming and does not work, and team chemistry gets compromised. A few do have to be (self) sacrificed for the many.

– If you, as CEO, are the smartest person in the room for several meetings, then you have done a crappy job on recruiting talent.

– Managing versus micromanaging takes trust and delegation, but the person being micromanaged must also stand up. If left unresolved, morale gets comprised and "divine" intervention becomes the most viable solution. While management by "prophet principles", from Moses to Jesus to Muhammad (PBUT), works well, our leaders today do not command the same pulpit.

– Boss versus leader generally means fear and respect respectively, but the head needs to straddle the two as different personalities connect with different styles.

– Access versus availability: in many parts of the world, especially the emerging markets (read Muslim countries), lack of access implies power for the person being sought. This extends to same person making the other wait for hours. Its one of the reasons why emerging markets stay that way, always potential rarely reaching actuality.

– Being a mentor and an apprentice: those who have all the answers should be playing the lottery, otherwise you also learn from the intern and the tea-lady. Humility of those at the top attracts the most scarce resource: talented people.

– Believing versus slogans: many fail to realise that slogans are not a strategy, and believing is a function of empowering people.

– Developing business or developing people: the latter are the lieutenants that will carry the business forward.

– Work balance is not black and white, as a variety of variables are part of the formula like stage of company, market share, sector, competition, etc – all are balancing acts that take time. It’s about establishing expectations initially and revisiting them after every major milestone.

– Stress building versus anxiety buster: stress is good when the working environment is company most people want to work for, but it actually becomes an anxiety buster because it’s about "failure forward". Do not be afraid to try!

– Encouraging failure versus punishing mistakes: innovation is the face of (calculated) risk, otherwise status quo becomes the slippery slope of marginalisation in today’s social media moment.

– Informing on status versus asking for updates: those who share good, bad and ugly news are better for the company than those who share only good news. Continuously asking for updates from particular staff can imply issues with deliverables.

– Favoritism versus neutrality: subconsciously every manager has a favourite and a "whipping boy". Being told or recognising is one thing but doing something about it is more important. The question to ask oneself is, why the varying views?

– Respecting the title versus the person: those who have earned the respect will have staff that can move mountains, and those that demand respect because of titles will always have a pebble in their shoe.

– "Thank you", "please" and "sorry" are probably not words in the vocabulary of many insecure "leaders" as (to them) it implies a weakness when, in fact, it's a source of strength.

As a leader you have to step up (make the difficult decisions), step out (360 view), step in (without actually doing it) and pivot step (refine) or you are going to get stomped on. You need to have the wisdom that comes from knowledge ascertained from information overload. – October 15, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.