From A Lifeboat, Failure Looks Like Success

Let’s discuss the big picture with setting goals. Trust me: I mean bigger than you’ve ever considered.

In a world where product cycles are measured in social media minutes and success isn’t measured but guessed at, the failure to understand the difference between short- and long-term deliverables is a stunning way for an executive to fail.

Last week we talked about short-term goals in a new job (“No More Fantasies: Let’s Talk About Deliverables”). You might have mistaken my emphasis on one-, three-, six- and 12-month objectives for a lack of interest in the bigger picture. So now let’s discuss the really bigger picture. Trust me: I mean bigger than you’ve ever considered.

There’s no better lead-in than the story of Marissa Mayer and Yahoo. She’s a smart executive who accepted a challenge to turn Yahoo around. The board of directors essentially said, “Welcome aboard! We’re sinking. Can you get us to the horizon?”

It seems Mayer didn’t notice she was on a ship, or that there was water, or where the ship was, what it was carrying, or why. Four years later Yahoo never hauled anchor and sank in place. When asked by CNN if the sale of her company was a failure, Mayer said, “I really view this as a success.”

I suppose the view from a lifeboat is just fine.

Mayer may be a talented manager, but she was a lousy captain because she saw no horizon, only the anchor put around her neck by a board that doesn’t see horizons either, or care that it takes lifetimes to navigate them. I got a dizzying view of the real horizon decades ago, shared with me by a computer sales rep from NEC America.

Laurie Watkin was a born and bred American, but her big bosses were all Japanese. Their culture instilled in them not only a historical and spiritual perspective, but also a degree of patience that kept their ship going. These managers weren’t just selling personal computers in a commodity market where price fluctuations were measured moment by moment.

Watkin attended a satellite conference that brought together all of NEC America and all the other worldwide NEC employees to watch an address by the company chairman from Japan. Watkin was a bit shaken by the experience, but walked away from it with a glow that I’d never seen in anyone I’d ever worked with.

“The chairman told about how diversified NEC is. At one end, it’s in the business of sand—producing silicon for semiconductor wafers—and at the other, NEC makes the biggest, fastest super computers. And everything in between.”

Watkin said that if the presentation had ended right there, her shift in perspective would have affected every day of her job going forward. But there was more. I’ve always been grateful to Laurie for what she shared with me next.

“Someone asked the chairman what one message he wanted to convey to all his gathered employees from around the world. And he answered, ‘That our company must go on forever.’”

I doubt the Yahoo board ever had that discussion with Marissa Mayer. No wonder she thinks failure is success.

What’s your company’s long-term objective? What’s the view from your ship?