In November 2001 I was having lunch with the head of a consumer products company and his vice chairman. The company had been losing market share, and the discussion at the table identified the source of the problem: weak marketing leadership at the top. The company clearly needed to hire a chief marketing person - it would be a make-or-break job for 2002. The CEO had someone in mind. She had been recommended by Mark, the vice chairman, and the CEO sang her praises, saying, "She's great, fantastic." "In what ways?" I asked. When he answered in glittering generalities, I pressed and again asked why he thought she was so wonderful. Remarkably, he couldn't be specific, and his face turned crimson.
I asked the CEO and vice chairman what the three nonnegotiable criteria for the job were. After some discussion, they named the following: be extremely good in selecting the right mix of promotion, advertising, and merchandising; have a proven sense of what advertising is effective and how to best place this advertising in TV, radio, and print; have the ability to execute the marketing program in the right timing and sequence so that it is coordinated with the launch of new products; and be able to select the right people to rebuild the marketing department.
After they articulated these criteria for the job, I asked whether the candidate met them. There was a long silence. Finally, the leader answered honestly: "You know, now I realize that I don't really know her."
Neither the CRO, the vice chairman, nor anyone else in the organization had asked the right questions. To consistently improve its leadership gene pool, every business needs a discipline that is embedded in the people process, with candid dialogues about the matches between people and jobs, and follow-through that ensures people take the appropriate actions.
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan with Charles Burck. 2002. Crown Business, NY, NY. p. 113, 114
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