Summit Consulting L.L.C

Generically, there are a number of issues that will result in a business crisis requiring intervention. As examples, it could be an internal new product launch, a major promotion to a new position or an external acquisition. The hunt is on for the executive who has the keys to superior performance…the edge that can bring the project home safely and create significant value for the company.

In the hunt, the company looks internally at its best candidates. Frequently in parallel, external candidates are also secured for review. Assessments are run, matches against prior experience are done for fit and suitability. Elaborate structured interviews are conducted frequently by outside specialists. Finally, a candidate is chosen.

Now the challenge. The candidate is looking for some “quick wins” frequently employing tactics used with some level of success historically. And, if they meet resistance, the tendency is to “dial up” the intensity of the tactics. Also, many candidates may have good depth in some COO skills, but little breadth. So, with all of the books written about what it takes to be a great leader from Welch to Bossidy, Maxwell to McKinsey, why is it that an astonishing 40-60% of these critical leaders fail in the first 18 months ( various studies by McKinsey, Harvard Business School, Wall Street Journal) in their positions costing at least an average of $1 million to the sponsor company?

WHAT HAS HAPPENED?

In the simplest of situations, a proven executive has either achieved a premature career plateau or seems to be slipping in performance without a clear reason. Summit sees its role as providing the full skill set to support a newly appointed executive along with the coaching mechanisms required to deal with the various parts of their new team. It is only when the candidate feels confident in their new role and how to manage the path to financial success will Summit back away.

There remain challenges in a corporate environment to which Summit is intensely sensitive. These can only be ameliorated with a close working relationship with the CEO and occasionally Board Members since they can pose prescriptions for failure exogenous to the performance of the new executive. Also, these individuals will want clear and honest updates on high-stakes projects… something Summit ensures.

All of the issues surrounding the broad topic of “corporate culture” will be exacerbated in our global business community. I worked for ten years in a combination of Asia (spanning Pakistan to Japan to Australia and Headquartered out of Singapore) and Europe (Amsterdam Headquarters and European centricity for global businesses) as the COO. Invariably, I was struck by how successful executives even within the company could move to other geographic areas and fail. In my naïve belief, I thought one company would also have one “culture”.

In my experience, that is not the case. In a global organization, companies need to respect the sub-cultures of the local communities to understand how to be successful rather than simply exporting the Headquarters culture. Unfortunately, Anglo-Saxon citizens appear to be the worst offenders of this truism. They seem to almost define the axiom that “if the only tool in the toolbox is a hammer then the world's problems are only nails”. Thus, cultural sensitivity is one of the most difficult coaching interventionist challenges.

We at Summit see our core competency as filling a part time void of the critical COO role. That means we are fully prepared to engage a activities that include, Project Management, Change Management, HR Integrations, M&A Conversions, Business Improvement and the coaching that may accompany any of these activities.