From the course: Jeff Weiner on Leading like a CEO

Flying at the right altitude

From the course: Jeff Weiner on Leading like a CEO

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Flying at the right altitude

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- [Instructor] Lastly, when it comes to synthesis. There's certain tools that I want to make sure you have in your toolbox, in order to put yourself in the right position, to be able to separate the signal from the noise, to be able to filter what matters and doesn't matter, to be able to connect dots, pull the right plans together, execute on those plans. Okay, so rule three, as always you know, there weren't going to be four things on this slide. So first, we want to make sure that folks are flying at the right altitude. Second, time management. And third, creating the right forums. With regard to flying at the right altitude, very important transitions that you're going to end up making as managers. One is along a continuum of tactical on one end and strategic on the other. The second problem solving on one end and coaching on the other. With regard to the first continuum, when teams, when companies are first starting out, the founders, the senior most people are going to be very focused on tactical execution, it's what we were talking about earlier. You're focused on identifying product-market fit and then building it. And once you build it, you're focused on generating financing and investment. And once you build that, you're focused on hiring the right team, so forth and so on. You're just getting it done. And we kind of touched on this earlier, if all you're doing is your company continues to scale is focused on tactical execution, you're not going to become proactive enough. A competition is going to start to come up from behind you, they're going to catch you, they're going to surpass you. You're constantly going to be playing catch up, not only with regard to the competition, but all the stuff your organization needs to do to be successful. You must become more strategic in the context of how we define strategy earlier, it's so important to lift your head up and look out and look out in terms of some of the macro influences on your organization, the competitive landscape, major secular shifts, and you want to be playing one, two, three moves ahead if you can. And that's very difficult to do if all you're ever focused on is tactical execution. Second continuum, problem solving and coaching. Similar to everything I just described with regard to tactical execution. In a team's earliest days, whether it's startup or larger company, you're going to be focused on solving problems. And if you're really good at it, you're going to end up in management, you're going to end up being responsible for other people. And people who've had some success with solving problems and get elevated and responsible for other people, what are they going to knee jerk to when someone brings them a problem? Solving the problem, that's why they're in the role that they're in. They're playing to their own strengths. That may work in the earlier days of an organization's maturation. What's going to happen when you're responsible for eight to 10 people who directly report to you and they're responsible for several hundred or several thousand people? What's going to happen if every time someone comes to you, you need to solve their problems? Does not scale in any way, shape or form. That team, that company is going to be in trouble. Over time, you need to start to shift your focus and evolve. So that yes, from time to time for the nastiest of problems that you can draw upon your unique experience, you can get involved and roll up your sleeves, and the best managers and leaders do that. But if you're not coaching your team to solve their own problems, it doesn't scale. More importantly, you want to be able to coach your team to do what, not just solve problems, but do what? Coach their teams. And when you've got folks on your team, who can now coach members of their team, that's how you scale. That's how you scale. And these two continuums, navigating them in a thoughtful, proactive, intelligent way. That's how you can increase the likelihood that you're in a position to synthesize in an effective valuable way. Separate the signal from the noise, connect the dots.

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