The new CEO bought a marble desk. That was the whole leadership philosophy, right there.
I was 31, fresh out of a five-year stint in academia, and just a few weeks into a role at a 1,500-person tech company.
The founder had just stepped up to chairman. His replacement arrived from a 25-year career at IBM, and, according to the hallway grapevine, one of his first orders of business was a new desk for an office he apparently never planned to leave.
The old desk was oak or pine. The new one had a marble top. Allegedly, it was easier to write cheques on marble.
In "Lead. Care. Win." I wrote that he treated his office like a perch, not a perk. In fact, it might even be thought of as a bunker or a trench.
It was a figurative divide between his title and the people doing the work.
Nine months later, the company was sold to a firm in Paris. (I am still not convinced the desk made the trip.)
Here is the line I want every leader to underline: Leadership is not to be conducted from a perch. It is a privilege.
So, a question for you.
Where are you leading from this coming week? The corner office, the unapproachable calendar full of back-to-back meetings, the inbox, the never-answered DMs?
Or the places where your team actually works?
My old VP, Eric Driscoll, once asked me whether I had bothered to visit the team members based in cities not named Vancouver.
I had not.
It had been a couple of months in my new, expanded role, but I hadn't bothered to visit Colorado, New Jersey, or Florida.
In essence, he told me to get off my perch.
My advice to you? Reach out and find out what is going on in the lives of the people you support.
PS. Thanks for that lesson in my early days, Eric. 🙏
From "Lead. Care. Win.: How to Become a Leader Who Matters" (Lesson 8, Commit to Balance).
