Get things rolling and move on
Another part of leading a company that can adapt in an instant is, well, being a leader who can adapt in an instant.
“Given the amount of information we get through the Internet and the amount of change and unpredictability of the world we live in, you just have to be flexible,” she says.
This puts the onus on you. If you want to push your company, you have to be at the forefront of where the industry changes are happening. That means you have to learn when to let go of one project to tackle another.
“It’s deciding when you’ve accomplished something enough and it’s time to push in a new direction,” she says. “It’s interesting because you push, push, push and lead, lead, lead, and then someday, you need to say, ‘I think we got a lot of that done; it’s time to move somewhere new,’ and that’s an interesting challenge.”
This is a never-ending battle for CEOs, as it can be hard to give up controls. Drake recalls when DSC was emphasizing its focus on process management a few years ago, and it seemed like if she let her reins go, it might not take. How she learned to let go and tackle more pressing issues required a bit of abstract thought.
“It’s like you push this snowball up the hill, and until you get it over the crest of the hill, you’re not done, and it can go backward,” she says. “But once you achieve critical mass, then it quickly moves forward or sustains itself.”
In thinking of her work like that giant snowball, she says a leader will have a natural feel for who isn’t strong enough to hold up his or her weight. That’s the person you have to help first, and once he or she has that snowball to the crest — which means you feel comfortable letting the person manage that project — you can move on to the next project.
“Measurements help with that, but measurements are almost more outcomes and not necessarily focused on the pieces to get there, and so outcomes are what you want, but if you’ve got three good pieces and three more pieces to go to get to the right outcome, it’s helpful to be intuitive and figure that out and be able to say, ‘OK, I got this part accomplished, but the problem is over here,’” she says.
