This Management Style is Guaranteed to Destroy Value

It's Managment by Cell Phone. Instead, try the lanes and arrows of outrageous management.

By Walter Simson

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This happens every day: Your boss leaves a meeting, phone to ear. Comes back, saying. “Joe had a disaster, but don’t worry. I fixed it.” This is part of the epidemic of management by cell phone.

Okay, maybe this doesn’t happen every day. But fire-fighting is the number one style in family and PE backed ventures.

The problem arises when executives believe they can effectively run their businesses through a 6-inch screen.

Picture this scenario: A CEO sends rapid-fire texts and emails during the day, glances at financial reports during his commute, and makes snap decisions based on partial information. He thinks he's efficient. In reality, he's steering his company into turbulent waters.?

Why is this problematic??

1. It creates a culture of constant interruption. When the boss is always a text away, employees feel pressured to respond immediately, destroying focus and deep work.

2. It encourages shallow thinking. Complex business problems rarely have simple solutions that can be hashed out in a string of texts.

3. It undermines leadership presence. There's immense value in being physically present, walking the halls, and having face-to-face conversations. It builds trust and allows you to pick up on subtle cues that never come across digitally.

Worst of all, it prioritizes?intervention?over?process. I would much rather have a well-marked parking lot with lanes and arrows, than a hyper-vigilant executive pointing at cars.??This means we praise process, not quick fixes.

Call it the lanes and arrows of outrageous management.

If your company feels disaster-prone, it might be a good idea to pause when something bad occurs. What would happen If you deliberately created awareness of what is going wrong—so that you can invest in a process. For the purpose of this discussion, a “process” is any solution that three informed people will agree will ensure that the disaster will never, ever, EVER! happen again.?

?Here’s an extra ever for emphasis: EVER!

More conventionally, I’d put it this way: “Foster a culture of deep work. Give your team time and space to focus without constant digital interruptions.”?

Critically, by the way, a cell phone usually involves only one person at a time. If that person is a manager and is making decisions, they’ve overridden the whole organization.?

Management by cell phone may be dramatic and may feel effective, but it diminishes effective teamwork and by extension, destroys value.?

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