The Unseen Failure Mode For New Executives - Chapter One (Hall of Fame Guidance)

Many inexperienced executives fall prey to an executive mode of failure they have not been previously exposed to: creating and leading an operational plan, only to have it judged a failure. Executive life is much less circumscribed than the life of managers or individual contributors, and many executives don't have the strategic planning skills, foresight, and the ability to make decisions in situations of high uncertainty.

Your boss gives you a short briefing on a new initiative for your division or company. The parameters are unclear, senior staff are still working out what the goals are, budgets haven't been set, your ability to hire isn't approved or is unclear, you don't know what anyone else knows, your boss does not over-communicate, and you've never done this before. If this sounds daunting, it should. And it's completely normal. Operational goal setting without parameters or overall goals is a regular occurrence for executives. In this chapter, we define the problem, and in Chapter Two we tell you how to solve it.