Let's Build On Consistency

A few days ago I posted a CNN Money article on my Facebook page about the recent struggle Twitter has been having with their leadership (http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/04/14/troubletwitter/).  Quite a number of CEOs and executives have been bounced around.  It's a pretty long article, but one key point it makes is that lack of consistent and cohesive leadership has stunted the company's growth significantly.

It's hard for employees, and ultimately consumers, to rally behind the direction of a company if leadership can't step up to the plate and deliver innovative, concise and uniform goals.  Other companies like Borders (currently in bankruptcy) have made the same mistake.  They've had four CEOs in the past three years.  Imagine in the baseball world if your favorite team had that many coaches in the same amount of time.  That would likely pair up nicely with poor ticket sales and a losing record.  It becomes quite easy to see the repercussions of irregular leadership.

Make your management decisions wisely folks.  Sometimes it's easy to put family or friends in key positions, but whoever you hire, ask yourself if they are the proper person for the long-term task.  Is their vision in line with the company's?  You need to keep a strong team together and work toward a common goal to help maintain your company's identity.  This will also create a sense of loyalty in your employees and give them time to develop trust in the management team.  It makes being successful a lot harder if no one believes in who they are following.