Who doesn’t look back and wonder what if? What if we begin each week with insight that keeps us from repeating our mistakes? What if we intentionally started each week with a ReSET? Newt Fowler’s biweekly column shares how CEOs refocus on what matters.

Firing a colleague is hard. We talk about how CEOs are measured by how well the team they assemble executes; but they’re also graded on whether they can pull the trigger when they need to. This past week, I’ve seen two CEOs get it right.

Dorian Gray. The pictures CEOs are pressured to paint inevitably reveal symmetry. The business plan shows clarity of how they’ll execute; the team is predictably congruous and focused; and the company’s Board and investors see a well varnished view of team performance. Whatever cracks lie beneath such a canvas aren’t revealed.

Frozen. Some CEOs worry about the impact of a termination on their organization’s culture, on the remaining team, on their ability to recruit, of making the decision too soon. Questions inevitably remain. Have you given the individual every opportunity, every resource to succeed? Was the position a mismatch of skills or experience (perhaps there’s a better role)? Are factors outside of his control impeding success? Meanwhile an ineffable malaise creeps in as the decision others sense is needed is further delayed.

Impossible Symmetry. CEOs are tasked with shaping vision and enabling a team’s success – painting the perfect picture for inherently imperfect organizations. There’s understandably lots of focus on mapping the genome of visionary leaders. What’s often missing is the acknowledgment that the most successful have a real sense of the imperfections within their organization. They understand their job, more often than not, is dealing with dissonance and sensing when the organization needs change. While we celebrate visionary leaders, their success results from getting through difficult decisions with clarity and empathy. In hindsight, we usually wonder what took us so long, when instead we should be asking “what would have made this decision clearer earlier”...

About the Author
With more than 25 years’ experience in law and business, Newt Fowler, a partner in Womble Carlyle’s business practice, advises many investors, entrepreneurs and technology companies, guiding them through all aspects of business planning, financing transactions, technology commercialization and M&A. He chairs the Board of TEDCO and serves on the Boards of the Economic Alliance of Baltimore, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake. Newt can be reached at nfowler@wcsr.com.