When the CEO Is Asleep at the Wheel, Problems Happen.
Dec. 8, 2011
I recommend that you set up a small business on the side. You need a fall-back position. You could get fired. You also need a new career to "retire into." I try to offer suggestions that will help you become successful. Here is one of the important ones: don't expect it to run on autopilot after the initial phase.
Small business owners dare not assume that their companies are being run well by senior managers. They should assume that senior managers are out golfing. They should design feedback systems that sound warning bells. But they rarely do. It is easier to assume that everything is operating smoothly.
A web-based small business is fairly easy to monitor. The owner clicks links every day, to make sure that everything is operating as designed. If he is too lazy to do this, then he should hire a minimum wage college student to do it from home. He should get the student to check off a list.
Here is an example of a web-based business that is not being managed. I begin with the masthead.
Say that a customer wants to access his account. He clicks on My Account. This immediately appears.
The support staff is not checking its mail. Or maybe it just doesn't care. Maybe it's a third-party service. Whatever the problem, nothing happens.
You might think that all this is new. It isn't. I reported on this a year ago.
The owner is not in charge. He may think he is in charge, but he isn't. The support staff is in charge.
This is true of so many web-based firms. The customers' only contact is through support, and support is asleep at the wheel. Whatever they do represents the company.
So, how does the average customer get through? He can call. That might work. But if support is provided by phone and email, both paths to support should be equally responsive.
I offer this as an example. Here is the lesson: No CEO should let support operate without frequent checks. A CEO should regularly test the support department anonymously. He should assume that a problem is fouling up the system. This is the assumption of entropy: things normally fall apart. He should also assume that the chain of command has no incentive to let him know of problems.
A CEO needs feedback from customers. This lets him know when there is a problem. But CEOs prefer to delegate. They forget to answer this question: Who monitors the monitors?
If you work for a company like this, assume that the next recession will create major problems for it and maybe for you. If the last recession did not lead to systematic operational changes, senior management is asleep at the wheel.