No Democracy

Does that mean that the invincible executive executes a more democratic management style? Not on your life. While delusions of absolute power have proven fatal to many corporate careers over the past couple of years, very few executives with whom I spoke embraced anything close to democracy in managing an organization. Mike Sears of Boeing puts it this way: "Somebody has to decide where we are going. And that is not something that we get to vote on. The leader has to decide. Then the leader has to get alignment."

The key word is alignment. It is a management approach that is somewhere in between dictatorship and democracy. According to Sears, "This alignment process is extremely important and very dependent on the ability of the leader to lead people—to get them to understand, to get them to agree, to get them to say that 'this is the right thing to do,' and to motivate them to get there as fast as they possibly can." Or, as Sears's coworker Doug Bain put it, you have to constantly "assess and obtain the buy-in" of your employees with respect to any decision that you make. The ability to obtain "buy-in" or alignment is an essential management skill in today's corporate world.

There are three steps to achieving effective alignment. Step one is the most democratic: get input. Sears and several of his counterparts in the corporate world emphasize the importance of getting a lot of input from a lot of people before the company makes a significant decision—such as launching a new product line or closing down an old one. "Listen as well as you communicate," notes Bill Shaw, president of Marriott International. Those who might be affected by the decision should feel that they had a chance to make their views known and that the ultimate decision factored in their concerns. "'What do you think?' is the most important line in business," according to legendary CEO Bill Marriott.

Step two: the leader makes the decision. That is the simple step. There is no democracy there. The leader "lays out the vision" and, concurrently, provides an "action plan with priorities," so that no one can have doubts about what the decision is and how the company is going to get there, according to Bill Shaw.

Step three is motivating people to get with the program—whether they agree with the ultimate decision or not. That requires them to accept change—which is a very difficult process. The way top executives get people motivated to achieve the desired change and result quickly is through "communication and trust," according to Sears. "You have to inform, you have to repeat, you have to be open, you have to put the cards on the table, and you have to be willing to withstand somebody looking at you and questioning your decision." Sears also notes, "The more trust you have built up with people, the less they will question you." Bill Shaw of Marriott agrees with this aspect of the alignment process. "You have to communicate [the plan] simply, get people to buy into it, and then surround yourself with the good people who will execute."

In sum, Sears says, "The alignment process all comes down to whether you understand what we are trying to do. And you cannot just say 'yes.' That is unacceptable. I have to have this interaction with you so that I can be sure that you really do understand what I mean."