Boston Centerless - Precision Matters Magazine Boston Centerless Precision Matters Fall 2019 | Page 11

TALK TO CEOS
Too often CEOs are part of the problem –
they punish open, prompt communications
when people say they discovered a problem.
What can a manager do who is aware of a
serious problem but hasn’t yet dug into it
and hasn’t notified the CEO? Manage his or
her boss, the CEO. Here’s an example:
Early in his career Bob Smith, Division
VP at Acme (names changed), was offered a
promotion to Division President. Bob would
report to a CEO who, if he thought a division
president was hiding anything, would send an
army of analysts to question everyone. Bob
knew this. Shortly after Bob was promoted
to Division President he said to the CEO, “I
know you hate to get negative surprises, so
I promise that within an hour of my learning
of a serious problem (and taking that hour to
verify it), I’ll let you know what I know. And
I ask a favor of you – please give me a day or
so after that to investigate why it occurred
and then I’ll get back to you, hopefully with
what should have been done to prevent it,
what we’re doing to correct it, and how we’ll
prevent a recurrence.”
Bob never was visited by that “army” of
analysts. He managed his boss, the CEO, well.
Hopefully this has been helpful advice:
1. Answer the CEO’s questions directly;
2. Get to the point. When CEOs asks the time,
tell them; do not explain how to build a watch.
3 . Don’t hide problems from the CEO. Manage
the CEO by asking for a day to research the
problem.
Dr. Brad Smart
Dr. Brad Smart is an internationally renowned management psychologist and is generally regarded
as the world’s leading expert on hiring best practices. The company consults with many leading
companies and hundreds of small and growth companies. Brad has conducted in-depth interviews
with over 6,500 executives. He is author of seven books and videos, including Topgrading 3rd Edition:
The Proven Hiring And Promoting Method That Turbocharges Company Performance; The Smart
Interviewer: Tools and Techniques for Hiring the Best; and the training series Topgrading Toolkit,
featuring the 12 Topgrading hiring steps and demos of all the interviews. Topgrading methods
have helped leading companies such General Electric, Honeywell, Barclays, and American Heart
Association plus hundreds of small and mid-sized companies improve their hiring methods.
Topgrading.com
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