Over the last couple of years, as the evolution of the social web made business-as-usual increasingly more difficult for companies like mine, I have seen many hired guns brought in to right the ship. None of them succeeded.
Every time I was introduced to a new senior manager who was coming in to fix all of our problems the emphasis was always on how much experience they have.
"... 20 years experience developing best of breed solutions … pioneered industry best practices … implemented Six Sigma programs in Fortune 500 companies … etc … etc …"
These are touted as reasons why they are the right person for the job, but in reality this is exactly why they will fall on their face trying to lead an online business. The problem is that experienced executives have gotten to where they are because they succeeded in the offline business environment. The things that led to their success will now prove their undoing.
These people know how to make factories efficient. They continue to believe that the online divisions of market research companies are factories. They are not. The online world is not driven by mass production & marketing, it’s driven by conversation. It’s much more like an ancient market than a modern one.
We don’t need more management. We don’t need more efficient business processes. We need fresh ideas and innovation. We need to empower smart people who won’t be mislead by clinging to how things used to work. We need less bureaucracy and more adhocracy. We need to become online companies.
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