By Lisa Hochgraf
"Boards of directors aren't always of a single mind. CEOs frequently receive mixed messages from boards."
So asserts an excerpt from Lead Like Ike: Ten Business Strategies From the CEO of D-Day, due out in June.
Is that true? Do your boards give confusing directions sometimes? What do you do to handle it?
I hope you'll post your comments below, and maybe find some inspiration in how General Eisenhower managed the far-reaching opinions of his geographically spread-out board, according to author Geoff Loftus.
"Dwight Eisenhower’s directors had many different opinions, leaving Ike to figure out which way to lead his organization. The U.S. Navy’s Ernest King resented the Europe-first strategy of the Allies and wanted to concentrate on the Pacific. George Marshall, the U.S. Army’s top man, was convinced that the only route to success lay over the Normandy beaches. Winston Churchill was a Europe-firster but hated the idea of direct competition going into France. He wanted to fight in Greece or the Balkans, almost anywhere besides France. Josef Stalin disagreed with Churchill—he needed relief in the Soviet Union’s competition with Germany and felt the only way that could be achieved would be through northern France. Franklin D. Roosevelt bided his time and waited to push in the direction he wanted when he felt he could achieve his vision.
"Ike’s solution to the problem of mixed messages from above is useful for any executive in the same situation. He used the 'prevailing wind' solution.
"In the movie Casablanca, Captain Renault is a self-described 'poor corrupt official,' played by Claude Rains. Ostensibly in charge of law enforcement in the city of Casablanca, Captain Renault receives orders from the Vichy French government, is leaned on heavily by the local Nazis, is troubled by the Free French (the resistance), and is swarmed over by refugees begging for escape. Renault is in the middle of an overwhelming flow of conflicting messages. And yet, he always seems calm and unruffled. When asked about his own personal political conviction, Renault responds, 'I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy.'
"Unlike Renault, Ike had very strong convictions. Like Casablanca’s Frenchman, however, forces more powerful than Eisenhower wanted different things from him. Ike stayed calm and waited to detect the prevailing wind. It became clear that the prevailing wind was FDR’s. Again and again through the course of the war, Ike would discern what FDR wanted and move toward that goal."
Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES editor.
