Leadership Pipeline, 3rd Edition

7Leading an Enterprise

A great deal of recognition surrounds this leadership passage, as well as a great deal of failure. When new enterprise leaders are named, usually called chief executive officer (CEO), newspaper articles are written about them, their appointment is hailed by friends and colleagues, and their social calendars fill up quickly. Many enterprise leaders develop a large presence in national and world media. Within a few years of their appointment, however, many chief executives are gone or on their way out. Over the last five years the turnover has accelerated almost beyond belief. These aren't stupid people. In fact, many failed enterprise leaders are brilliant strategists and visionaries. Nonetheless, they lacked the work values, time application, and skills demanded at this leadership level. They may not have had an enterprise mindset.

Note: Previous editions of this book included discussion of leading a group. But this role seems to be disappearing. As organizations flatten and information flows to the bottom through digitization, much of the work formally associated with the group leader is now handled by the enterprise leader. We discuss the group leader in more detail in Chapter 11.

Technological advances have spawned hundreds of new businesses in areas such as software and applications, medical breakthroughs, medicine and drugs, cash management, leadership coaching, new services, and so on. Many of them are small start‐ups with a handful of employees. ...