Lead the charge
The burden was on Modany to find a solution that would enable students to continue their education without hurting shareholder value.
“It was incumbent upon us to create alternative financing opportunities for our students so they could continue to have access to education,” Modany says.
When you sign up to be the CEO, you sign up to solve the problems that your company faces. You need to remain front and center throughout that effort.
“If anybody is under the impression that, as a CEO, once it’s all laid out, you just say, ‘Hey guys, go make it happen. Call me if you need me,’ you’re not going to get the result that you want,” Modany says. “The job takes a lot of work and effort. You have to be focused on the results. You have to use your plan. You have to help coach and mentor. You have to make suggestions and take actions when you need to. If I’m not engaged, I can’t help you do that.”
Modany says it’s a mistake to let your staff members create their own plans for how to solve a problem.
“Leadership is your ability to transfer the ownership of your idea as a leader to the individuals who are going to be responsible for executing it, such that they feel as if that idea is theirs,” Modany says. “If you have 20 people and everybody creates their own plan, how the heck am I going to be able to consolidate that into one individual plan that actually achieves the objectives of the organization? You can’t get there.”
Instead, you’re creating the plans and working with your people to take ownership of the plan.
“I have to sit down with you and say, ‘Look, you are responsible for this part of the business,’” Modany says. “Then I would say, ‘How should we measure our success?’ And you might say, ‘How about A, B and C?’ If I thought that was the right idea and that’s what I had, as the leader, I would say, ‘Wow, I love what you have here. Let’s go with that.’”
If your employee has an idea that you don’t think is the right way to go, you start asking questions and making suggestions.
“I’m responsible for making up the plan,” Modany says. “As the leader, I have to do that. But I have to get you to buy in to it. Otherwise, you’re not going to execute it. You’re not going to execute my plan. Very few people do that. There are employees out there who will say, ‘Look, tell me what you want me to do and I’ll go do it.’ Those are great guys to have around. But other people, you really need to get them to buy in to it.”
The key for you is to lead the effort in a collaborative tone and not as a dictator who is just barking out orders.
“Most people, if you sit down with them and say, ‘This is what we think makes sense. These are the initiatives and we want to take these actions to achieve these goals and I’ll help coach you through it as we go through the process,’ they’ll say, ‘Wow, this is helpful. There is no confusion as to how I’m going to be evaluated. As long as I put the ball in the hole, I’m in good shape,’” Modany says.
