All new leaders need transition time when they’re brought into an organization. This is especially true when you’re brought in to accomplish a mission, and then some. And that’s a lot of pressure.
In McCardell’s case, he definitely was under pressure to perform well. So, he did the most obvious thing — bring in his own team of trusted financial and strategic planners on board to help him with the mission.
The planners couldn’t help but focus on making their boss look good, so they did the most obvious thing — focus on what seemed to be the lowest-hanging fruit: expenses and market share. And together with McCardell, they came up with a “Corporate Strategic Plan,” which was literally a list of desires — increase market share in every single market, cut costs across the business, and thereby ramp up revenue and profits.
Now those things show up cleanly during board presentations. And of course, nobody gets fired for cutting costs.
What they completely missed was diagnosing the fundamental reasons the company’s growth had stalled. Instead of creating a cohesive plan to overcome those obstacles, they focused on budgets, cost-cutting, and hockey-stick projections, reassuring the board that everything would be all right.
But here’s the scary part — I would have done the same if I were in their position. There was a lot at stake — my reputation as someone who delivers results, my ability to perform under pressure, my team watching, my future, and my insecurities, including imposter syndrome.
That isn’t a character flaw as much as it’s a human trap.