Executive Leadership and Anesthesia
Executive Leadership and Anesthesia
VIM Executive Coaching is not in the medical or pharmaceutical business, but as business coaches, we know a thing or two about anesthesia. For invariably, executives who place themselves on an automatic mindset feel the pain of their neglect.
We remember the case of an executive leader in the medical device industry who came to us as he was about to be offered a generous termination package. He had gone up through the ranks in various sales capacities until leading the international sales effort. It was a good position in a growing industry. However, his approach was hands-off almost to the extreme. Over the 11-years the company employed him, his philosophy was the ill-defined corporate attitude of “making a profit for our shareholders while delivering the best equipment.”
Blah-blah-blah
The executive leader didn’t want to know what he didn’t know. What he didn’t want to know was why (or how) a few of his managers were burning through so many marketing dollars while the actual country marketing programs were not overly creative or seemingly effective.
Of course, we are offering an over-simplification however once the investigations were concluded, wide-scale bribery was uncovered. The competition could not compete with the bribery that found its way to foreign officials and foreign hospitals. The international executive sales leader told his vice president of sales that he had been above it all; he trusted them to do the right thing, and to make a profit for the shareholders and deliver the equipment.
Reportedly, the executive vice president of sales sharply asked him, “Don’t you ever talk to your people?” He didn’t. He was content to let things hum along.
Humming along would ultimately result in millions of dollars in fines that would negatively impact the so-called profit to the shareholders. The competition would triumph because, after all, their equipment did more or less the same thing.
Anesthesia of choice
So many executive leaders, while clearly not all bad people, have grown complacent in their jobs and as a result, lose all sense of mindfulness. Anesthesia, if you will, comes to them as the result of forming “old guys networks and being surrounded by ‘yes people,’” or being complicit in the actual unethical behavior, or money and bribes or through drugs and alcohol, or sexual harassment, or bullying or (whatever) other available means anesthesia.
The anesthesia numbs them to what is seen and felt and heard. When the anesthetic of choice is in place, authenticity is lost and mindfulness is nonexistent. Nothing good comes of it.
The warning signs were well in place for the executive who came to VIM Executive Coaching. It was subtly seen in rather lackluster campaigns where the funds were diverted, and more obvious where valued employees were quitting left and right without giving reasons.
For despite the arrogance and the posturing of some unmindful executives, in this day and age, ethical behavior does matter to employees. Mindfulness, active listening, transparency and doing things in the correct manner are quite important, especially in the light of DEI and ESG initiatives.
“Anesthesia” cannot co-exist with mindfulness. Even if there is pressure on an executive leader to be inauthentic, we can assist those leaders to find a way to relieve that pressure. Even if it means going to a new organization or having a change in mindset or developing the determination to alter the vision of the organization, there must be a resolve to become a part of something bigger and not apart from it.
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