Throughout my career in tech sales, I was exposed to new product launches, shifts in direction, mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, layoffs and other major changes in direction that were dictated from the C-level.
Over the years, I learned that unless I had a direct alternative to affect the changes, my best approach was to take a deep breath, observe quietly and give it time to see what happens.
Having been involved in the decision making making process at the C-level and Board level, I came to realize that dictates rolled out from the executive level are not as well-considered or thoughtful as I had once believed. Snap judgements based on incomplete information, uniformed opinions and silo’d executives are more common than you might think.
It’s easy for a leader to announce a major change. Implementing it is another matter entirely.
As I wrote about yesterday, a successful implementation requires good operators. It also requires a solid understanding of the systems being changed, getting buy-in from those affected and time.
Without all of these, you will have confusion, chaos, internal sabotage, mistakes and a piss-poor rollout.
A similar comparison can be made to Trump’s Executive Orders. He suffers from the same delusion common to many C level executives. They think they can “make it happen” through sheer willpower and proclamations.
They’re wrong.
On the occasions where this approach doesn’t result in utter failure, the results were haphazard, costly and inefficient. Sometimes they destroyed the company or department. Sometimes they increased costs exponentially. Sometimes they decimated the morale of the organization.
If they were successful, it was usually due to other causes like good market conditions, luck, a team of good operators working behind the scenes, etc.
And so, despite the performative antics of Trump’s reality TV show, I’m not freaking out. I’ve seen this before. I’m watching, waiting and observing.
Some things, like certain provisions in the BBB, are going to directly impact me. I’m prepared to handle these as they arise.
Other things, like foreign relationships, tariffs, and immigration policies impact me minimally at present – although I have strong opinions on all of them. I will watch and wait to see what happens. I’m good at that.
When the time comes that I have a direct alternative, I’ll take it. I’m good at that too.