Philosophical Differences

Yesterday in meeting with two senior leaders we had a clash of philosophy that led to change in strategy. The basic change is that I was building a committee of 10-12 which included some senior leadership and now we are looking at a much smaller committee of 4-5 which includes almost exclusively senior leadership. It is a change that is minor at the outset, but has tremendous strategic consequences. For instance, I was using the committee as a place to get input, but also to get buy-in. Now I need to do that differently.

Another change is that the parent committee will be making the charge, and the subcommittees will be actually drafting the first core messages and possibly a new tagline for general campus use. The parent committee will be the final refiner and approval.

I was basing my model on Larry Lauer and Robert Sevier's work and recommendations in their writing, and it seems like now we have taken a turn that I'm not sure will get us where we need to go, but I'm passionate enough about the goal to press on.

I had the insight today that being a "director" means I have to get along in the organization like a middle weight fighter. I still have to jab and move, but I have the occasional knock out punch. The cabinets are the heavyweights, they don't have to adjust or move as fast because they have the "weight" to take the punches and can deliver the knock out when needed. This is different than entry-level positions that require the cost bobbing and weaving of a lightweight.

It's not a great analogy, but one that I was pondering this morning.