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Jeff\nVogelsang, Managing Partner of Promontory Point Partners, is a turnaround\nspecialist. We heard him speak to a\ngroup of CEOs wherein he described the typical interaction between himself and\nthe CEO of a company that requires his turnaround help. Vogelsang said that the CEO will \u201cwhine\u201d (his\nword, not ours) to him that the company\u2019s problems are due to competition from\nChina, or the high cost of energy, or the economy.\u201d To which Vogelsang responds, \u201cNo! The problem is not the Chinese or the cost of\nenergy or the economy . . . it\u2019s\nyou. The Chinese, the cost of energy,\nand the economy are just the market conditions you have to deal with, but if\nyou can\u2019t (or won\u2019t) deal with those conditions, then step aside and let\nsomeone else do it.\u201d In these tough\ntimes of a pandemic, a battered economy, and social unrest, it\u2019s worthwhile to\nremind ourselves that even though these are external problems that we had no\nhand in creating, we must still find ways to deal with them. For more on this, please continue reading\nbelow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho\nMoved My Cheese?\u201d <\/strong>~ title of a 1998\nbusiness fable by Dr. Spencer Johnson<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Johnson\u2019s book, \u201ccheese\u201d could be a metaphor for\nall sorts of different things . . . health, social status, financial success,\nor lifetime goals . . . but for this purpose, the \u201ccheese\u201d is our company\u2019s\nmarket, and something has happened to change it. Maybe a new, large competitor has entered our\nmarket, or perhaps a so-called \u201cdisruptive\u201d technology is threatening our\nproduct or service. Whatever the cause,\nour market has changed (our \u201ccheese\u201d has been moved). So what should we do? We can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hopefully,\nyou won\u2019t throw in the towel (as in #1), and you won\u2019t bet everything on the\nchance that somehow things will get back to the way they were (as in #2). The only real option we\u2019ve got is #3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peter\nSchutz, who was President of Porsche from 1981 to 1987, was also a keynote\nspeaker and business management consultant. \nOne of his oft-repeated axioms was, \u201cIf there is no change, there\u2019s no\nneed to manage.\u201d If those of us in management\njust didn\u2019t show up for work one day, what would our people do? Most likely, they\u2019d just keep doing whatever\nthey we\u2019re doing the previous day. And\nfor as long as the managers would stay away, their people would just continue\ndoing what they have always done and what they know how to do. And everything would actually work pretty\nwell that way. But what if something\nchanges and suddenly the way we\u2019ve always done things doesn\u2019t work\nanymore? What then? That\u2019s when those of us in management need to\nearn our keep. Truth be told, we\u2019ve got\npretty cushy jobs when there are no significant market upheavals or\ninterruptions to worry about. It\u2019s only\nwhen significant change in our marketplace causes confusion and chaos that our\ncompany actually gets its money\u2019s worth from us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So\nwhat\u2019s the point of all this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re\nnow faced with an unprecedented confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic, a\ndestabilized economy, and the worst social unrest we\u2019ve experienced in the last\n50 years. As a result, our companies\nneed strong leadership from us as never before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As\nwith all leadership initiatives, the goal here is to gain the cooperation and\nsupport of our workforce, not because they have<\/em> to, but because\nthey want<\/em> to. We want\ntheir \u201cbuy in.\u201d We want them to accept\nthe notion that this is not just a management problem . . . it\u2019s everyone\u2019s<\/em>\nproblem. Spectators are not allowed. We need participants who will give us their\nenergy, commitment, and best thinking. \nUnfortunately, we won\u2019t get that from everyone. Inevitably, some employees will have a sense\nof entitlement and will resist any change that might inconvenience their normal\nroutines. In the long run, those are the\nfolks that you probably don\u2019t want on your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\ngood news is that times like these challenge us and test us. We\u2019ll learn if our management team has the\nleadership skills we believe it does. \nWe\u2019ll also learn if the concepts of teamwork are alive and well within\nour organization. And when we emerge\nfrom all this turmoil, all of us . . .\nmanagers and employees alike . . . will experience the sense of accomplishment\nand achievement that only comes to winners. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jeff Vogelsang, Managing Partner of Promontory Point Partners, is a turnaround specialist. We heard him speak to a group of CEOs wherein he described the typical interaction between himself and the CEO of a company that requires his turnaround help. Vogelsang said that the CEO will \u201cwhine\u201d (his word, not ours) to him that the<\/p>\n