The rapid evolution of executive roles in today’s hyper-dynamic business climate is clear. The fundamental concept of executive leadership is changing. CxOs and VPs must have a radically new type of creative, innovative mindset. The activities of CEO, CMO, CFO…CxO and VPs did 5 years ago, is different today, and it is still changing. Some traditional tasks have even shifted from one title to another.
Today’s Leadership Discussion
Prominent leadership news today covers transparency, organizational trust and involvement, the consumerization of IT, creative ideation, crowd-sourcing and innovative design thinking and more.
Yesteryear, top schools taught MBAs that corporate executives were to satisfy shareholders. They learned operational efficiency to squeeze out another percent of productivity or managerial finance to optimize tax and governance regulations to improve the bottom line. C-level executives primarily looked inward, tweaking operations, hiring and managing staff members, driving productivity based on what internal conclusions indicated. Corporations were market driven, at best.
Financial or operational skills along are no longer enough. Today companies must be market driving. Customers will not tolerate a passive or tentative engagement. Today, every executive in the C-suite must communicate down, and out effectively, confidently and convincingly to all stakeholders, partners, customers and especially customers and employees.
Sure, the Harvard, Stanford and Wharton Top 5 Leadership Qualities topics still matter, but the fundamental activities in the roles around the executive table are changing. Triumphant leaders at great companies are creating the future and rewriting the roles in the executive suite entirely. Boards are either catalyzing the change, getting out of the way or getting run over in the social space. (Remember the boards at HP or Yahoo?)
Technology Drivers Unleash Creativity
It used to be compliance, but now technologies innovation is the most profound driver of role change. The engagement technology in terms of social media enable an executive-to-customer dialog. The market expects to see participation of corporate leadership in the company blog, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Facebook and Pinterest and more.
Successful C-level executives are pulled by the gravitational force of the market and proactive customer dialog. The volume is staggering. Its power is even greater when engaged by C-level executive. Creativity and achievement beyond imagination is unleashed this way.
Effectiveness of executives using these new social tools has a profound effect on how consumers weigh, measure, and judge companies. Executives are influencers on critical customer decisions about what they will buy and ultimately determine which companies will succeed and which will fail.
The value and influence of technology is self-evident. Consider that Steve Jobs made it a critical imperative to dialog with customers. He actively played a role in positioning and messaging products and services coming out of Apple. He refused to allow his vision to be botched by mediocrity in any way. He set the tone, amplified the message and strengthened the connection and synergy between Apple and its customers.
Economic Drivers Force Change
As a baseline, corporations were historically measured by revenue and profit. Today companies are measured on their creative ability to innovate in all aspects, functions and service levels across the business.
The global economic collapse of 2007 and 2008 accelerated a slow buildup of stress and strain into tectonic shifts of epic change. Consider that the economic meltdown accelerated many difficult decisions otherwise waiting to be made. Stack-ranking and top-grading of and reductions in force happened because payrolls could not be made. To avoid shuttering the business, painful tasks had to be done, immediately like cutting unprofitable activities and products, closing superfluous facilities, thinning excessive supply chains, and re-training remaining resources.
Innovate or Die
The economic drivers of the last 5 years forced global businesses to innovate to a higher level, and at a faster rate, than ever before. It forced the executive team to make innovative decisions that forced seismic-level change. If they did not, they failed, or were replaced (remember General Motors?).
The economic meltdown exposed the true value of innovation to the corporate bottom line. In 2008, it rapidly became evident that no amount of budget-cutting or efficiency-measures could cover the gap. New products, creative business models, and expansion into global markets were also necessary. With capital constraints, the ONLY way to achieve this was to innovate.
Shifting from efficiency measures to innovation initiatives produced profound results. Customers were vocal in their interested in innovative companies over those just holding on and riding out the economic storm. Innovation was the key to exponential growth as many predicted. To magnify the effect, exceptional leaders used social media to engage and experience first-hand how the market, customers, products, and the organization were doing.
Consider what Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has done to wipe away layers of chair-occupying executive leadership in Detroit. How he negotiated directly, hands on with the US government. How he turned Chrysler’s chairman’s office into a relic of the past. How he spends his time with engineers, on the factory floor, engaging with customers, and talking with employees. Consider he shared on 60 Minutes on 25 March 2012 that credit for the transformation is not his leadership. He instead passed on all the credit to the dedication, sacrifice and willingness of Chrysler’s employees and patience of his customers.
This is not managing by spreadsheets, this is leading by engagement.
Shifting Roles
With your interest peaked – let me make a few observations that are happening now. You may have seen these in your organization.
CEOs are engaging with customers as a primary activity. Deskwork is secondary to being the face of the company to employees, the market, partners, channels, and customers. They are the new supreme brand champion. Technology used: Social Media.
CMOs are now the new Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Revenue officer. They have the technology and the experience to drive revenue using technology better than anyone. The CMO now leads the sales organization. The intricate and complex connection between content and lead generation is clearly on their shoulders. They are the new Quants in the organization. Technology use: Social Media, Marketing metrics, financial metrics, and database technology.
CFOs need to shift from institutionalizing “No” as the answer to creative ideas and innovation into an enabler role to help employees and management find financial means over time to optimally achieve innovation priorities delivering the best internal rate of return (IRR) in the shortest time. Technology used: project management tools to time expenses with value generation opportunity, decision trees and priority schedules.
The VP of Sales becomes the positioning messenger on the street, working for the CMO. They are the deal closer and lead a sales force that has become the customer relationship manager working to execute the retention programs that the CMO has developed.
The CIO, like the CFO now moves at a faster pace than in the past. Their mantra, with the help of cloud-based solutions, should be “do you want fries with that app?” They must focus on accelerating corporate objectives, not just enabling them. Their primary internal customer shifts from the CFO measuring the past business performance, to the CMO. They must satisfy new demand for data and real-time information access to respond to social engagement. They must implement the CMO’s requirements for technology that captures social interest turning it into leads and increasing conversion rates.
The CTO and VP of R&D moves from the product development and engineering project manager, to the coordinator of the crowd and steward of open innovation. These leaders must be skilled at going outside to get more innovation done, for less cost and in less time. No engineering or product development group can avoid taking advantage of the collective ideation intelligence found in crowdsourcing. The pace of innovation demands it.
Something to Ponder
Leaders that want to stay on top must reinvent their role, and it must be visible, not only to build trust in their organization, but also to connect with the customer base and extended stakeholder communities that now have access to observable performance more than ever before. The social media spotlight uncovers every political maneuver, and magnifies it for the market to see. They weigh, measure and judge, in real time either choosing or not choosing your product or service. There is no second chance in this new economy.
How are you changing, as a CxO, Vice President, or aspiring executive?
Leave a comment to share the steps you are taking to lead the change for your role.
