Obsessions of an Extraordinary
Executive: The Four Disciplines at the Heart of Making Any
Organization World Class
by Patrick Lencioni
Completed February 2001
This is the best book on executive leadership that I have read. Lencioni reduces executive leadership to four simple disciplines:
My application of these four simple disciplines to my job provides the following outline of what I should be focused on to make Sonicity world-class. This is about 95% Lencioni and 5% my specific thoughts. Definitely read the book, though, as Lencioni introduces the disciplines through a leadership fable which contextualize the disciplines much better than any outline could. Obsessions doesn't read like a management handbook -- Lencioni's style is very readable, entertaining and really pulls you in.
| Build and maintain a cohesive leadership team | |
| 1. | Only hire people who are secure in themselves, passionate and smart. |
| 2. | Listen to your gut on senior hires. Every time I've had misgivings about a hire (from the interview, references or just that funny feeling), the misgivings have been borne out. |
| 3. | Define the core values of the company and make sure that all leaders reflect these values. |
| 4. | Interview every hire until it's not possible to do so. |
| 5. | Get the team together in non-business settings. |
| 6. | Do a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test for the entire leadership team and discuss the results. Communication and effectiveness will improve. |
| 7. | Don't shy away from conflict on the team. |
| 8. | Build a culture of accountability -- we should all hold each other accountable. |
Create organizational
clarity
Create clarity in Identity, Values, Strategy, Goals
(long-term and short-term), Roles and Responsibilities. Doing
this isn't magical, it's just a matter of doing it.
Over-communicate
organizational clarity
Don't be afraid to repeat, repeat, repeat. Redundancy leads to
clarity. Demand that every leader in the company
over-communicate, as well. People learn best when they have to
teach others.
| Reinforce organizational clarity with human systems | |
| 1. | Develop an orientation program -- every Monday there's a new hire, spend part of the day with these people communicating the organizational clarity. |
| 2. | Integrate values into hiring process. |
| 3. | Develop and implement a process where all interviewers share feedback with each other. Focus on values in addition to experience and accomplishment. Not only will better decisions be made, interviewers will learn from their peers. |
| 4. | Develop and implement a performance review process which takes organizational clarity into account (especially values and goals). Make it a simple process. Include peer feedback. |
| 5. | Regularly celebrate people who exemplify values and accomplish goals. |
| 6. | Remove people who don't exemplify the values. Remove or reassign those who don't contribute to the goals. |