THE LEAFLET
November 2 2023
curbing ceo-coo catfights! part 1 and 2, exclusive cultures get inclusive
CURBING CEO-COO CATFIGHTS 1: TALK ABOUT TRADEOFFS
Meow! The CEO and the COO disagree. The one thing they seem to agree on is the intensity of the disagreement. It’s diametric. 1 vs -1.
The CEO believes she is ensuring the future of the company with a proposed bet. The COO (or CFO or General Counsel) believes she, in turn, is preventing near-term disaster and long-term dissolution. Each thinks the the other is crazy and stubborn - even, sometimes especially, when they have great respect for each other and are otherwise friends.
In conversation, in the catfight, this sounds something like:
CEO: “We must do x!
COO: “X is crazy. We can’t do x.”
A vexing truth here is that they may both be right. Fear not, though - there is a way out!
Read the rest here.
CURBING CEO-COO CATFIGHTS 2: EXISTENTIAL RISK AND REASON
The only situation where you have eliminated all risk is the one where you’re done. Dead. Dissolved.
In all other scenarios, you and your team face some risk.
Debates between leaders about the dread “strategy” often collapse or grind to a stop over different attitudes toward risk. In my experience, the founder/CEO has a larger risk appetite than her COO / CFO / General Counsel.
Given that there will be risk until your organization is done for, I have found it helpful to keep a couple things in mind:
The question is not “do we do something risky or not?” - if you’re doing anything at all, it carries some measure of risk. The question is, “is the risk we’re considering worthwhile?” (with a bonus question for advanced players - “how confident are we of our appraisal of the risk?”)
To help answer question 1, ask: What is the reason this team exists in the first place? What is our “existential rationale”? Y’know. Your raison d’etre. (Or, if you absolutely must, your “why”)
Read the rest here.
THE UNEXPECTED INCLUSIVE POWER OF EXCLUSIVE CULTURE
Clarity about
a) what we’re here to do,
b) what constitutes excellence in pursuit of that, and
c) what is unacceptable
— that is a gift to your people. It’s also a gift to those who are not your people - it saves those ones and you a bunch of time and heartache.
Narrow and clear definition of the contents of those narrow categories is an exclusive move. It will screen some folks out. However, this is not a pre-emptive, discriminatory screening. It’s an open invitation to a specific kind of party. Some folks won’t want to attend this kind of party; this is not their idea of a good time. So they opt out. They decline the invitation.
Critically, the narrow and clear definition of that small number of things, the short list of what one must embrace to be here, leaves open all other dimensions of identity. In this approach, “what excellence looks like around here” doesn’t have a set skin tone, sexual orientation, gender identity, or country of origin. It might not have a degree requirement.
This openness to all the other dimensions of identity is the inclusive part.
Read the rest here.
COMPELLING QUOTES
Habit-building expert James Clear on the paradox of small improvements:
Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity. This is one reason why meaningful change does not require radical change. Small habits can make a meaningful difference by providing evidence of a new identity. And if a change is meaningful, it actually is big. That’s the paradox of making small improvements.
Novelist, essayist, and art critic Teju Cole, from his brilliant essay collection Known and Strange Things:
Writing of Monet’s painting in Bordighera, on the Riviera, he speculates that Monet “realized that he liked painting this town more than he loved the town itself, because what he loved was more in him than in the town itself, though he needed the town to draw it out of him.”
Presentation expert Andrew Lightheart, in Presentation Now:
Remember: your job is not to entertain. Your job is to be relevant and helpful. Think: ‘What can I do to help these people most efficiently?’ or ‘How can I support them in changing their life for the better, given their circumstances?’. You’ll be much more inspirational this way than you will be by trying any technique to fake being ‘inspirational’.
Keep going, keep growing,
Ben & Eric