My idea of hell – Drayton Bird Associates

I just got one of those emails that remind me how glad I am I don’t work for an “organisation”. It gave “details of our guide to holding reviews for your executive team.”

It only takes the words “executive team” to start the nausea. Then the message went on:

Topics covered in the Video Seminar include:

– Suggestions for how to structure the reviews
– The step-by-step process
– Key questions to ask each member of the team (CEO, CFO, CTO, CMO, COO)
– How to encourage excellence in the executive team
– Case Study

Samples of the types of questions answered in the video seminar include:

– What are the most crucial aspects of the CEO’s role in performance reviews? Who else is involved in developing and issuing the review?
– What are the most commonly cited benefits of performance reviews? What are the disadvantages?
– Which aspect of the review process do CEOs find the most challenging?
– What are the basic components of a well organized review process? Which criteria are used for reviewing members of the executive team?
– What is the best format for discussing the review with the executive? When is a group or peer-review process appropriate? How is this conducted?
– What leadership skills can CEOs use to encourage excellence in the executive team? What leadership skills do you like to see used by the executive team?
– How does the review process help to establish personal or career goals? Why is this important to developing excellence?

And so on. Great if you’re a CEO, CFO, CTO, CMO, COO, TWAT or some other set of initials. But what if you’re a human being? Sounds like hell to me. The polar opposite of what I think most people look forward to – and I will offer.

What never fails to make me laugh is all this guff about “leadership skills”.

When December, season of alcohol, remorse and let’s hope we survive next year approaches, I shall cut down on the commercials and dial up the bad jokes.

About the Author

In 2003, the Chartered Institute of Marketing named Drayton one of 50 living individuals who have shaped today’s marketing.

He has worked in 55 countries with many of the world’s greatest brands. These include American Express, Audi, Bentley, British Airways, Cisco, Columbia Business School, Deutsche Post, Ford, IBM, McKinsey, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nestle, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Unilever, Visa and Volkswagen.

Drayton has helped sell everything from Airbus planes to Peppa Pig. His book, Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing, out in 17 languages, has been the UK’s best seller on the subject every year since 1982. He has also run his own businesses in the U.K., Portugal and Malaysia.

He was a main board member of the Ogilvy Group, a founding member of the Superbrands Organisation, one of the first eight Honorary Fellows of the Institute of Direct Marketing and one of the first three people named to the Hall of Fame of the Direct Marketing Association of India. He has also been given Lifetime Achievement Awards by the Caples Organisation in New York and Early To Rise in Florida.

About the Author

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