Book: Right From the Start by Dan Ciampa & Michael Watkins
Krishna
Note: This book is reviewed from the point of usefulness of the subject matter. It is a non fictional managerial aid book, and is reviewed as such.
Taking over as second in command under a departing CEO
from an external company is hard. You battle with three issues : promises you made to the board to get the job, unfamiliarity of the new turf and antagonism from senior executives who hope you fail so they in turn can become CEO
The case studies to illustrate the points are excellent. For instance, Andy, who is brought in as Number Two to uplift a floundering company, goes gung ho and rough shod over everyone and gets fired for his pains on what looks like the third week. Others describe being hijacked by vested interests and people who try to push their own, sometimes tired, agenda onto the new boss.
They outline multiple principles – the need to focus on specific goals, show early wins and build momentum while not losing focus on where we go, the need to learn and adjust the plan based on the company’s capabilities and unique circumstances, to effect change at the top to build a team both by inspiring and replacing executives. None of these is surprising but it is well told.
Example of Matt who did not keep his subordinates behind him while he curried favours with the superiors, example of how people successfully listened and modified their initial vision to account for the company’s limitations are all very useful and nicely narrated.
The examples in all the steps (Personal Vision, Early successes, and how to influence the department, how to build a support network) are very useful and give this book a less pedantic and more practical feel.
The principles to follow – making change only to the extent that the organization can take, listening in, making people changes positively but quickly, being accessible but not too accessible – are interesting to read.
The authors talk about creating a personal vision, and how to formulate the vision – all to the point and very interesting. The formation of the vision, whether to share it widely and whether to share it with the CEO (whose work you are essentially dismantling in a way) are well told. Again, examples bring home the point more forcefully than a dozen pages of dry discourse and also keeps this interesting to read.
There are chapters devoted to self management, and an especially interesting one about seeking counsel. They talk about the various types of counsels you need and how to get them. They also talk about how someone else’s ideal counsellors will not be the right one for you.
Nice book and gives you insight about an unusual subject well. Not gripping, not told in a racy style (which it is possible to do even in this topic) but good arguments made in a serious tone. If you are not interested in this topic, though, you may find the material boring and may want to skip it.
7/ 10
– – Krishna (Jan 2018)