#2 - What should a new leader do to establish his/her style and make an impact - without rocking the boat?
Our 3rd author series of the year continues! This series is based on the recent news that Time Inc. CEO Jack Griffin left his post at the company after only 6 months in the job. You can read the full article in BusinessWeek here. Yesterday JBbiz author Harry Kraemer weighed in, and today we'll hear from Jeffrey Cohn and Jay Moran, authors of the forthcoming "Why Are We Bad at Picking Good Leaders?" Be sure to read their response below and check out their new book. We'll have more compelling insights to share this week and next and hope you'll chime in, in the blog comments or on Twitter and Facebook.
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"Griffin was recruited to Time because of his high accolades, his analytic ability, his change management expertise, and an extremely impressive track record hitting lofty goals in prior jobs. Sounds great, right? Unfortunately none of this guarantees success in a new role! Often a resume contains red-herrings that distract companies from focusing on what truly matters when hiring star talent. At best, a leader's past performance only tells half of the story. Time Inc. could have avoided this hiring blunder by focusing more intently on the leadership attributes that Griffin was lacking --emotional intelligence and empathy to be specific. The best organizations conduct leadership assessments, before they make key hiring decisions, that focus on 7 key attributes. [We profile these in detail in our book.] In Griffin's case, an upfront assessment would have likely revealed his rigidity, his low emotional intelligence, and an inability to adapt to a different culture. The board of directors would have been able to see, ahead of time, if he had the capacity to understand what makes others tick, and then if he was willing and able to adjust his approach accordingly. Armed with this knowledge, Time Inc likely wouldn't have hired Griffin. But even if it had, everyone could have moved forward by providing Griffin with valuable, custom-tailored coaching to increase his chances for success."
Jeffrey Cohn (New York, NY) is an advisor to CEOs and Boards around the world; a public speaker; and an expert in succession planning, assessment and leadership development. Cohn was previously a Research Fellow at the Harvard Business School; the Director of Research at Chief Executive Leadership Institute (Yale); and a Director at the Law & Economics Consulting Group. Cohn has published widely in the areas of leadership development, succession planning and strategic management, including articles in Harvard Business Review, Economist Intelligence Unit, The CEO Refresher, and the Balanced Scorecard Report. He also has been quoted in BusinessWeek, The Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and Workforce Management.
Jay Moran (Barcelona, Spain) is a leading succession planning expert, an executive coach, and a professor of leadership and international business at IES Barcelona and Saint Louis University. Moran was formally at the CEO Leadership Institute at Yale where he helped launch multiple CEO conferences and workshops for C-Suite executives and Board members on topics including innovation, leadership assessment, talent management, corporate culture and succession planning.
In their book, "Why Are We Bad at Picking Good Leaders?" Cohn and Moran share the same insights and ideas they use to help organizations make better choices. Through dynamic, first-hand accounts, the authors offer the ultimate insider access and reveal how top organizations find and choose the best talent. Includes interviews with: Mike Krzyzewski, "Coach K" (Gold medal coach of US Olympic basketball team and Duke University coach) and Jerry Colangelo, Chairman of USA Basketball; Jeff Bezos (billionaire entrepreneur and CEO of Amazon); George Steinbrenner (the late Yankees legendary owner), Scott Davis, CEO of UPS (world's largest package delivery company); Toby Cosgrove (famous heart surgeon and CEO of world-renowned hospital, Cleveland Clinic); Facundo Bacardi (chairman of Bacardi Ltd.); and more. Available for preorder now.
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