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Business Rule #6:
Pay Attention to the Details
October 15, 2004
I have always managed through trust. I give my people plenty of room to either succeed on their own merits or fail on their own shortcomings. This latitude shines a glaring light on the weaknesses and soft spots of lesser employees, as tonight’s episode of The Apprentice amply shows us. John Willenborg revealed his weaknesses in all of their blazing glory and failed spectacularly. You could physically see his weakness in the boardroom as he sat there in the crossfire of Kevin Allen’s imposing will and Andy Litinsky’s towering intellectuality.
John sure did talk a good game in the previous episodes, didn’t he? The man talked up his abilities as a leader and made sure to drive his point home whenever a project manager faltered. Tonight was different. This time it was his leadership that was under scrutiny. Problem was he never stayed around long enough to be a leader. John never kicked into “leader” mode. His biggest mistake was not sticking around to lead the decision on price points. The whole point in business is your bottom line. Without it, no one cares if you have the greatest product in the world. Without appropriate pricing, you will be doomed in business. Don’t believe me? Try selling a Chevy Cavalier for $750,000.
Why choose that horrible designer in the first place? I was late in delivering my column today because I wanted to consult my own design team on the men’s team fashions. “Wasn’t tweed two seasons ago?” I asked my head designer, Anne. She answered with an at-once-educated-yet-simplistic, “Yep.”
You should never sell something that you don’t believe in. You’re never going to be happy or successful, so why bother? You have to believe in what you’re doing or it will never work. Here’s an example of the team not liking what they saw and going with the designer regardless. Well, it wasn’t the team’s decision; it was John’s. He was the man of the hour and he failed miserably.
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In case you hadn’t noticed, taking on the responsibilities of a Project Manager—or a Chief Executive for that matter—is a whole different ballgame from working as an employee. It involves, above all, making difficult decisions in a manner that can be a real challenge for people who are still learning the ropes and used to having someone else handle their decision-making for them. John should have realized that a good leader—let me correct that, a great leader—is involved in even the most mundane details. Let alone the most important ones, like pricing. If you don’t know every aspect of what you’re doing—down to the paper clips—you’re setting yourself up for some big unwelcome surprises.
John is not too unlike assorted other individuals I know whose primary concern is saving face and looking like a good leader. They are so concerned with “looking” like a great leader that they forget one little thing: leadership! They overlook the small details that in the end are their spectacular undoing. Chicago’s most famous mobster, Al Capone, got away with it all: murder, bootlegging, racketeering, theft, and political corruption. But he overlooked one minor detail that put him away when even other crime syndicates couldn’t touch him and the law couldn’t reach him: he forgot to pay his taxes and it was his downfall!
When people trust you to be their leader, you can’t afford to overlook the details. Here at The LaVelle Organization, I believe in one thing when it comes to my employees and that is “upward mobility.” I firmly believe in promoting from within. Today’s mailroom clerk can be tomorrow’s executive. A good executive is always hiring and promoting (and firing) people to forge a winning team that will create opportunities for all to grow, even when it’s a challenge.
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When people trust you to be their leader, you can’t afford to overlook the details.
