Bluntly share the reality. Look for
numbers, metrics, facts, etc.,
and don’t deny it. Listen to
them, look at them and share
the conclusion.
I have a reputation for being
fairly blunt and fairly direct,
and I will show them the financial information in the company — I don’t want to make
everyone an insider, that’s the
thing about being public —
but at the right time, you can
do it and say, ‘Look, we are
going to make this company
successful even through tough
times, and this is what it’s
going to take.’
Kill office politics. Most of the
time politics happen by having
your executives come to your
office and tell you, ‘I heard
that so-and-so is doing this,
and I’m not sure about this,’
and all kind of suspicions. So my first answer is, ‘Did you
talk to that person to tell him
or her that you have a problem
with the way they’re managing?’ And if the answer is no,
then it’s, ‘Go ahead and go.
Leave my office, and go talk to
him or her, and then we’ll talk.
If the two of you cannot communicate, I can help. But it’s
not fair to come to my office
unless you have done that.’
The root of office politics is
the leader accepts that people
come to them with derogatory
statements about their peers.
Most of the work has to happen between my executives; I
don’t need to be involved in
every detail.
So if they cannot talk about
difficult things, then it doesn’t
work.
HOW TO REACH: Bookham Inc., (408) 383-1400 or www.bookhams.com
