The notion of a “Courageous Executive” is not a new one. However, what is changing, is the awareness of how significant this organisational pattern can be when it comes to disruption and innovation. Here’s a link from mid-2017 from one of my former employers on the topic.
Relying on a courageous executive to solve all of your “agile transformation” related problems only really stands a chance of working if they have enough authority/persuasiveness to be able to get their way in the CxO arena. That might be fine for forward thinking / dynamic / exciting / other-superlative organisations, but what if your organisation doesn’t have that open culture? Or you don’t have access to someone willing to stick their head over the parapet? What if (like a large percentage of the working population), you work for a late-majority or laggard organisation?
I’ve been thinking about this sort of thing recently. Mostly because many of the bigger problems I face in my work life these days are all around how my large bureaucratic clients can work effectively with large, bureaucratic suppliers and partners, when everyone states they want “to do agile” [sic] and yet are afraid to change anything about their operating or engagement models.
I’ve been trying to organise my thoughts around “difficult conversations that are simplified/made trivial if a courageous executive existed”. I’ve also been trying to organise any messaging I deliver to my clients to make it easier to convert an existing executive (perhaps with a courageous bias) into someone who can be labelled as a Courageous Executive [massive disclaimer: I’m in no way going anywhere near a formalised definition, just pushing the boundaries of what my gut feels like]. I’ll write up as I go and link to this post.
Amateur Coach 
One thought on “Courageous Executives – Coping without one”