Getting Naked:
In Search of Executive Vulnerability
Fall 2003
Speaking metaphorically, many executives show up to tropical team meetings dressed for arctic temperatures. Too much self-protection in a business climate of increasing heat. Uncomfortable for them? Probably. Ineffective for the leadership issues they must manage together? Most certainly.
Ok, so the answer isn’t literal nudity, but it is a dressing down of sorts. Let’s begin with some context setting:
Companies today are facing enormous challenges. The prospect of executive failure, employee dislocation, and public derision is omnipresent. The marketplace is complex and ever-changing. Competition for survival, let alone supremacy, is fierce. The war on terror is changing the way we vie in the world. Smart, responsible leadership has never been more necessary at the helm of businesses and governments.
So, when leaders from a single organization come together as an executive team to set a course and oversee its implementation, the meetings should be filled with rigorous and honest debates among the company’s senior brain trust. Participants should look forward to these meetings, knowing that they will leave with greater insight, clarity, alignment, and peer support to excel, individually and collectively.
Does this describe a typical executive meeting?
As my 13 year-old would say… NOT!
In my work as an executive coach, I attend these meetings routinely. Here’s what I sadly observe:
• Individuals jockeying for position and appearances.
• People who won’t comfortably and openly challenge the ideas of upper management.
• People backing away from real points of disagreement (especially when the scheduled ‘end’ of the meeting approaches and individuals can get back to their ‘real’ work).
• Monotonous tactical progress reviews rather than disordered strategic debates that have to happen for sustainable focus and alignment to cascade throughout the organization
• Denial of how truly hard it is, on all levels, to drive real change in organizations, to succeed in today’s marketplace, to deal with massive workloads, and all of this while staying healthy and happy
