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Power should flow from choice, not chance or charm
The executive team sat around the conference table, debating who should lead the new digital transformation initiative.
“I think Sarah would be great,” said the CEO. “She’s got the technical background.”
“But her team is already stretched thin,” countered the COO. “Marcus? He’s been pushing for this for months.”
“Marcus doesn’t have the relationships with the regional offices,” the CFO pointed out. “Maybe Ava?”
“Ava’s too junior,” someone muttered.
Meanwhile, down the hall, the people who would actually implement the initiative—engineers, designers, data analysts—continued their work, completely unaware that their fate was being decided behind closed doors. When the announcement eventually came, surprise would give way to confusion, then to resignation: another top-down decision they’d have to make work, somehow.
This scenario plays out constantly. Critical leadership roles are filled through backroom discussions, “gut feelings,” or worst of all, the path of least resistance. This anti-pattern is the source of so many problems, not least of which is the maintenance of bias and homogeneity—to say nothing for employee disengagement and squandered skills.
Why not try something new?