Bottleneck 1Hidden
The $200 million rainmaker with a severance waiting
Mistaking Strong Numbers for a Healthy Company
- The situation
- A VP of HR called me about a salesperson bringing in $200 million a year. Customers loved him; inside, he was isolating everyone he worked with. A severance package sat drawn up on the VP's desk.
- What we found
- The company was reading only its external scoreboard. His sales number was the only thing protecting him, while the cost in people who left and stalled projects never showed up anywhere.
- What changed
- The lesson is to read both scoreboards. At a large internet company where two VPs had stopped talking, we fixed the trust problem in six hard months.
“He was looking at one scoreboard. The company was paying on another.”
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Bottleneck 2Hidden
The branch at war with headquarters
Functions Built to Fight Each Other
- The situation
- At a distribution company, the head of sales in North Dakota was at war with the parts and service manager at headquarters in Denver. On-time delivery in the region was falling apart, and the COO had had enough.
- What we found
- Neither man was a villain. Sales and parts and service were each doing exactly what their role asked, colliding on the seam between an external function and an internal one.
- What changed
- The COO stated the business cost plainly, then left. Face to face, the two discovered how much they shared: both overworked, understaffed and under pressure, both trying hard to do their jobs.
“The bottom line is that your working relationship can't be negative, especially to the point where it's hurting the business.”
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Bottleneck 3Hidden
The executive nobody would challenge
Treating People Problems as Someone Else's Job
- The situation
- At a railroad company, an executive, Sally, was unhappy in her role and her work was fair at best. She reported to the CFO but was best friends with the CEO.
- What we found
- Immunity. The CFO wouldn't push her for fear word would reach the top, and the CEO had no idea she was unhappy. Nobody said anything, and the whole team paid.
- What changed
- Once the conversations finally happened, we moved Sally into a different role that truly played to her talents. She was happier, and the company was better for it.
“Not the one in the values statement. The real one: the rules apply to some of us.”
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Bottleneck 4Hidden
The team leader whose favoritism was emptying his team
Letting Incivility Spread Because the Work Still Gets Done
- The situation
- Heidi, the HR manager at a global internet firm, called about a team with broken trust and communication. The leader was playing favorites, and many team members were starting to look for new jobs.
- What we found
- The damage hadn't reached the project plan until late. People quietly gave less long before anyone filed a complaint, and the leader treated it as background noise while output looked fine.
- What changed
- The leader, desperate and open, agreed to give his full cooperation and be vulnerable. We set aside at least half a day to lay everything out on the table.
“The project plan stays green while the effort underneath it drains away.”
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Bottleneck 5Hidden
Why the people nobody thanks hold everything up
Overlooking the People Who Hold the Company Up
- The situation
- From my own practice: I work with CEOs, experts and multimillion-dollar salespeople, but some of the most important people I depend on hold the least praised roles.
- What we found
- Leaders take care of bosses, direct reports and top customers, then overlook the assistants, cleaning crews and front desks who shape the customer's impression and decide daily whether to invest.
- What changed
- My motto is to treat the person in front of me as the most important person in the world. It has brought countless word-of-mouth engagements, loyal clients and administrative assistants going the extra mile.
“Treating everyone in your organization with respect isn't only an ideal. It's a strategy.”
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Bottleneck 6Alignment
From millions in losses to the black in months
A Leadership Team That Isn't Truly Aligned
- The situation
- A company facing millions of dollars in losses for the coming year, caused by Amazon. Nobody in the room could say how deep the hole would go, or whether there would be a company left.
- What we found
- Plenty of companies with good plans have lost to Amazon. The question was whether the senior team would converge, align and become one voice instead of protecting titles and departments.
- What changed
- Everyone laid their swords on the table and made painful personal sacrifices. Within a few months, the company went from the red to a few million dollars in the black.
“What saved this one was a senior team that actually agreed on its plan and moved as one.”
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Bottleneck 7Alignment
Seven hours to agree on why they existed
A Strategy With No Clear Mission or Vision Behind It
- The situation
- A statewide association of health and care organizations faced a government funding drop of at least 20% within two years and new competitors. Its leaders were experts, but each saw a different mission.
- What we found
- They were trying to agree on strategy before agreeing on why they existed together. Each leader's version of the purpose leaned toward what their own organization did best.
- What changed
- In seven hours we agreed on the mission, where they wanted to be in two years and their core competencies, and narrowed a long wish list to four strategic initiatives, including one unified voice.
“What made the difference wasn't the length of the session. It was the order of the questions.”
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Bottleneck 8Alignment
The company that invented digital and still lost
Competing on Strengths the Market No Longer Pays For
- The situation
- A public example, not a client: Kodak. Its great strength was film photography, and one of its own engineers built the first digital camera in 1975.
- What we found
- Kodak's core strength became largely unmarketable as digital improved. It had the invention and the expertise, but wasn't agile enough to move its customers from film to digital in time.
- What changed
- It didn't move. The same pattern faded Toys "R" Us, Kmart and Sears. I now ask senior teams whether the market still pays for the strengths they're investing in.
“The strength that built your company may not be the one that saves it.”
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Bottleneck 9Alignment
The perfectionist playing for thirty to nothing
Treating Everything as a Priority
- The situation
- At a consumer research company, a team of senior directors kept stalling because Jake, whose approval they needed, kept adding detail after everyone else considered a project complete. His thoroughness was causing massive delays.
- What we found
- Jake wanted to win at everything, but nobody had made the win explicit. He was chasing a perfect score when the team only needed a one-point victory.
- What changed
- His colleagues told me Jake became noticeably less resistant and much more collaborative. He wrote "what determines the win" on a note by his desk as a constant reminder.
“I think you're playing for a thirty-to-nothing score when all the team needs is a one-point victory.”
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Bottleneck 10Alignment
The ERP project everyone owned and nobody did
When Everyone Owns It, No One Does
- The situation
- I've been called in to facilitate a number of ERP resets. By the time I arrive, the project is conflict-ridden across the company and spiraling downhill at the rate of millions of dollars.
- What we found
- The technology was rarely the real problem. Everyone was responsible, so no one was: finance assumed IT was driving, IT assumed operations would sign off, operations waited on a decision.
- What changed
- We recalibrated the leadership, priorities, supplier relationships and processes. But it always started with one question, asked out loud to a room of senior leaders: who, by name, owns this?
“If everyone is accountable, no one is.”
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Bottleneck 11Alignment
A roughly two-million-dollar swing in six months
Not Knowing Your Numbers
- The situation
- A sales distribution department meant to be one of the company's core strengths had seen its revenues drop drastically. It was below target with negative margins.
- What we found
- Strengths nobody was using and weaknesses nobody had addressed as the market shifted. The leaders running the department didn't truly understand their own numbers.
- What changed
- We spent most of a year on strategy: new markets, more share, better margins, tighter expenses. Within six months of launch, the department gained 3% in profit margin, a swing of about $2 million.
“And none of it was possible until the leaders running that department truly understood their own numbers.”
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Bottleneck 12Alignment
Eight companies, eight cities, one consultant
Growing Faster Than Your Processes Can Carry You
- The situation
- This is my own story. At one point I was working with eight different companies in eight different cities at once, a pace there was no way to keep up.
- What we found
- I could outsource administration, accounting and marketing, but not the work itself. The value lived in my experience and judgment, so my business could only grow as far as my personal capacity.
- What changed
- I stopped relying on my own capacity and built ways to share the expertise: certifying a new generation of coaches and consultants in SAOL, developing coaching programs and writing books.
“How do we grow in a way our processes can actually carry?”
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Bottleneck 13Alignment
The CEO who couldn't fill out the review form
Measuring the Job, Not the Leadership
- The situation
- The CEO of a trucking company couldn't complete his direct reports' annual evaluations. He'd hired his CFO, head accountant and HR lead as experts. How could he tell them to do their jobs better?
- What we found
- The form measured the one thing he cared least about, functional performance, with no place for what he cared about most: their leadership and their business performance.
- What changed
- The fix is a review built on three performances: functional, leadership and business, with leaders rated by themselves and their peers.
“The form measured the one thing he cared least about. And it had no place for the two things he cared about most.”
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Bottleneck 14Alignment
The hardest conversation of a CEO's career
Avoiding the Hard Conversation
- The situation
- At a national, family-owned production company, Bill, president of operations for 40 years, had underperformed for five. His reports questioned his leadership, and the CEO, a lifelong friend, wouldn't act.
- What we found
- A positive but unproductive relationship. The closer the friendship, the harder it was to hold Bill accountable, and the CEO's objectivity was paying the price.
- What changed
- The three of us sat down. Bill retired into a role as external advisor and mentor, with a transition plan handing his work to two potential successors. A great outcome, and the CEO's hardest conversation.
“But Bill isn't performing at the level a president of your company needs to perform at.”
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Bottleneck 15Leadership
What losing on the mat taught me about boardrooms
Reacting Instead of Responding
- The situation
- My own story. For years I practiced and taught martial arts. When I first started sparring, I lost more often than I should have, and not because I lacked skill.
- What we found
- I was reacting instead of responding: mirroring whatever my opponent gave me and letting him choose every move. I see executives lose boardroom fights for exactly the same reason.
- What changed
- I learned to stop and think first, to know my strengths and my opponent's, and change the course of the fight. Acting fast, but thinking slowly. That is mastery of self.
“By reacting on autopilot, I was letting my opponent choose every move of the match.”
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Bottleneck 16Leadership
How a twelve-year-old's survival skill became my Superpower
Overusing Your Superpower Until It Becomes a Weakness
- The situation
- My own story. I was twelve when my mother was killed by a drunk driver. We had already lost our father and fled Vietnam. My siblings and I raised each other.
- What we found
- With no one to teach me, I started solving problems. That became my Superpower, the Connecting Resolution Driver. Overused, it becomes Kryptonite: pushing for closure and fixing problems without permission.
- What changed
- At P&G, starting at the same level as high school graduates, I took the problems nobody wanted and rose to run R&D for North American baby wipes. I still manage the Kryptonite at home.
“Your Kryptonite shows up when your Superpower is blocked.”
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Bottleneck 17Leadership
When your reputation becomes your team's problem
Having the Title but Not the Presence
- The situation
- I was coaching a manager and his direct report, Sarah, on their working relationship. Sarah told him he was known as a rebel among his peers, and she didn't want to be seen that way too.
- What we found
- He had the title but not the presence. How he was seen across the company was shaping the careers of everyone on his team.
- What changed
- He appreciated the candor. They agreed to meet every two weeks and built an onboarding plan with the other functions in which Sarah would take the lead. A step in the right direction.
“It dawned on him that his leadership couldn't just be about him anymore.”
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Bottleneck 18Leadership
A sound strategy, millions spent, nothing to show
The Right Strategy, the Wrong Leader
- The situation
- I watched a company sink millions of dollars into a strategy that was right on paper. The analysis was sound, and the senior team had agreed to it.
- What we found
- The leader chosen to own it was the wrong fit for what it demanded. Because he had close relationships at the top, everyone looked the other way.
- What changed
- Nothing changed, and that's the lesson. After millions in resources, the strategy went nowhere. Now I ask teams to match each strategy's type to the leader it needs, and act when it's wrong.
“Everyone knew the leader was the wrong fit. Nobody said it, because of who he knew. That silence cost millions.”
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Bottleneck 19Leadership
The rainmaker his own team felt devalued by
Leaders Who Never Rise Above Their Function
- The situation
- Salam, a lead operational sales manager, was a rainmaker the C-suite loved, but curt with anyone he considered slow. He was skeptical coaching would work.
- What we found
- He was stuck below Level 3 on the leadership ladder. His team felt like cogs, his peers felt threatened, and though he wanted to rise, he had developed no successor.
- What changed
- His own pride in being the best showed him he was failing as a leader. Over six months, his peers, boss, team and VP of HR all remarked on the change.
“As a leader, are you healthy?”
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Bottleneck 20Leadership
The heir apparent who chose a different path
Making Yourself Indispensable
- The situation
- Jenny, the HR manager at a family-owned auto company, assumed she would succeed her boss, Paul, when he retired. At the top, executives didn't see her in the role, and Paul didn't have the heart to tell her.
- What we found
- The C-suite valued Paul for thinking and communicating "in the gray." Jenny was black and white, superb at benefits and payroll, and nobody had told her how the decision makers saw her.
- What changed
- We gathered feedback from peers and executives on both of them. Jenny chose to stay in her role and grow through stretch goals in leadership and business development. Paul and the CEO endorsed it.
“Being indispensable in your current role is a great way to make sure you are never promoted out of it.”
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Bottleneck 21Sustainability
The diary page that changed how I lead
Running Your Company While You're Running on Empty
- The situation
- My own story. I was traveling more than 47,000 miles a year and working with eight companies at once. One day my wife handed me her diary and asked me to read it.
- What we found
- She had written that her husband, a leader over others, was physically home but never really there. I was building healthy organizations while running my own life on empty.
- What changed
- I now pause in the car before walking in to be present for my family. I rebuilt my practice around certifying coaches and writing books, so my work doesn't depend on being on a plane every week.
“Here I am, preaching and teaching how to build healthy organizations, and I can't even be present for my own family.”
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