PAPERmaking! g FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF PAPER TECHNOLOGY Volume 1, Number 1, 2015
4. Living in the weeds : I once worked for an executive who was constantly reminding me to “get out of the weeds”. He was concerned with the amount of time I was spending managing the people who reported to me. He told me that I should be spending more time with him discussing strategy than I was dealing with tactical issues. I needed to do a better job of empowering my staff and focus my attention on bigger longer term issues. I have noticed this problem a lot with the clients I have worked with. In particular, I have seen entrepreneurs and corporate executives who micro manage and take their eye off the vision they have for their company. Living in the weeds results in missed opportunities, missed deadlines and a loss of focus which results in arriving at your destination later than you thought or getting off track and wasting time and resources recovering from setbacks which could have been avoided. 5. Strangling Innovation : It goes without saying that innovation is the fuel which drives the success of any start-up company. Customers will not be attracted to new products and services unless they have a compelling reason to do so. The companies that succeed are not only innovative in their product and services, they have a culture of innovation and employ innovative approaches to marketing, sales, production and how they treat employees. Given the importance of innovation it is surprising how many companies strangle innovation by placing weak or inexperienced leaders in positions of responsibility. Among the key factors which strangle innovation are: micro management, tight control, inflexible processes, and failure to empower the members of your team. How prepared are you and your people to handle rapid growth? Do your people understand the skills required to engage and motivate new staff? Do they know how to address the interpersonal needs of customers, recruits, investors and other stake holders? In my recent book, A Garage Full of Ferraris , I highlight the successes of 15 people who were able to achieve their success by addressing the obstacles outlined above.
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Article 4 – Leadership (obstacles)
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