A departing CEO who publicly complains, claims victimhood, and lists achievements while visibly upset often speeds their own exit. Boards find it easier to fire the CEO than fix their PR problem. Your last public appearance can erase everything before it.
Welcome to the next edition of Two Minute Drill. This is number nine in the series of disastrous behaviors that I refer to as profiles of failure. And in a way, it's sort of one of my favorite because it's what happens just before you walk out the door. Okay? I call it management by whining around. I've seen this happen so many times. You're walking around literally with your hand in your stomach and you're talking towards the floor and just sort of taking off these things that are making you angry. People don't understand. They don't appreciate what we've done now. We've saved lives. We've done all these wonderful things. You list, it's about claiming you're a victim of the media when it's really too late and you are actually about to walk out the door. And when I say, when I'm talking to you, I'm talking about the CEO, they almost never fire staff people and PR people. They fire the CEO. It's just easier. Okay? So think about this. You're getting through this list, and you dug your hole deeper and deeper and deeper. This is kind of the thing that is the icing and the cake for your departure from the organization. Avoid it. It's what's remembered, sometimes even more than whatever it is you caused as a problem. If you'd like a copy of the full list of 9 profiles and failure, the information appears below. Good luck. Thanks for watching.
James E. Lukaszewski and Helio Fred Garcia discuss writing Influencing Leaders together
