| | It’s been pointed out to
me by my friends in the
public sector that I can
be a trifle harsh on
their chosen area of
work. Or at least that’s
what I think they said,
it was difficult to hear
over the slamming of the
front door. Given that
in my declining years I
will need to sponge off
these people while my
wife and I burn
apologetic letters from
our pension providers to
keep warm, I have
decided to give it a
rest for a bit.
Instead, it’s time to
have a look at what’s
happening in the vibrant
private sector, the one
where the market sorts
everything out with its
gentle, invisible hand.
Fortunately, IBM has
just completed another
of its global CEO
surveys, which saves a
great deal of effort.
The last one, which came
out in 2003, contained
the encouraging news
that CEOs had switched
their attention from
cost-savings to growth,
and heralded the start
of today’s consultancy
boom.
The current one is
being presented with | |
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| | are they running? I feel
I need to know, because
I have this terrible
sinking feeling that
this is precisely where
the dregs of my pension
fund are invested.
Still, 65%
contemplating major
change isn’t bad, and if
only IBM had left it at
that we could all sleep
soundly in our beds. But
they had to go one step
further and ask the CEOs
about their past success
in implementing change.
A third said they had
had “some success”. I
don’t know what this
means. Is it that they
aimed for “fundamental
change” and only
achieved “moderate
change”? Or that not
absolutely every change
programme they’ve been
involved with has been a
complete disaster?
But then there’s the
5% of CEOs – CEOs! — who
said they had “no
experience of change”.
What, never? What have
they been doing all
their careers? What did
they list as their
“achievements” when they
went for the CEO role?
What was the board
hoping to get from these
dynamic individuals?
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But these are far
from the most worrying
group. What set my
alarm bells ringing were
the 15% who said they
had had “little or no
success” with change
projects (and still they
sit in the CEO’s
chair!).
Unfortunately, IBM
didn’t marry up the two
sets of figures. We can
make a very charitable
assumption, though, that
there’s a 100% of the
13% of CEOs who are not
going to attempt any
change and the people
who have failed in the
past. “We tried change
once, and we didn’t like
it, so, never again” —
makes a great corporate
motto.
That still leaves a
relentlessly gung-ho 2%
of the world’s CEOs who
know they are useless at
change but are still
going to have another go
anyway.
Only 15% said — and I
repeat “said” (CEOs not
being known for their
modesty) — that they had
been very successful,
leaving a solid 32%
opting for a modest
“successful”. If only
these people were this
honest on their CVs.
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So, to sum up, (and
extrapolating in a
rather cavalier
fashion), two-thirds of
the world’s CEOs are
about to embark on major
change projects when, on
their own assessment of
their track record,
there is a less than 50%
chance of significant
success.
Does it get worse?
Unfortunately, yes. The
survey showed that CEOs
recognised that they
needed to innovate, not
just in their products
and services, but in
their business models.
The good news is that
when they were asked to
identify who it was in
their companies that led
innovation, the CEOs
also named themselves as
the biggest single
group, 35% of the
sample. The bad news is
that the second biggest
group was “nobody”.
Still, over a fifth
of the sample said they
would be looking to
consultants for some new
ideas. Here’s one for
free — fire the CEO.
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