He doesn't get it! Ed hissed through his clenched teeth. We were in his office for our monthly meeting, and from the moment Ed shut the door, I could tell he was upset.
"Who doesn't get it?" I asked, though I had a pretty good idea who he was talking about.
"Brian," he growled. Bingo. Brian was Ed's oldest son and had joined the family business last year. Brought up in the business, Brian eventually left for college then worked in high tech for a few years before returning.
Ed started the business in the early 70s. With a pregnant wife and a thousand dollar loan from his father-in-law, Ed started the business with not much more than pure grit, determination and a stubborn streak that ran deeper than the Marianas Trench. Almost forty years later, Ed's business employs hundreds of people, has a sterling reputation with customers and has given generously to the community. Bringing Brian back was always Ed's plan so he could begin enjoying the fruits of his hard work over the years. "I don't want to work forever," he told me last year while he was still convincing Brian to quit his high tech job.
Joining Ed in the business, Brian assumed the title of VP and with barely four weeks to get his feet wet, Ed left for a month long vacation. The problems began to surface as soon as he returned from his trip. Employees showed up in Ed's office, bending his ear about the changes Brian had been making during Ed's absence. He was getting an earful before Brian even had a chance to update him on his own. That was ten months ago and things hadn't gotten much better since.
"Fill me in. What's the latest?" Ed sighed deeply, taking a large gulp of coffee and proceeded to give me the story. Since Brian had taken over as VP, he began making changes right away, starting with a lean manufacturing effort on the production floor, impacting all areas of the company. He's limited the account rep's ability to expedite the schedule, required purchasing to renegotiate supplier contracts to JIT deliveries, and created issues in finance with the cost variance hits on WIP and the balance sheet. As if that weren't enough, Brian told the account reps to begin using the new blog pages IT added to the website, requiring they post blog updates on positive customer experiences, respond to customer concerns as well as record video greetings.
"I've practically got the whole damn company in my office these days complaining about what he's doing and it doesn't seem to stop." Ed complained.
"Okay, so he's made a bunch of changes, but what specifically is he not getting?" I asked, trying to get him back to where he started. Ed leaned forward on his elbows as he shook his head.
"He needs to be on the floor, gaining the trust of his crew. We have a lot of long-time employees here and Brian comes in like a bull in a china shop. He's got all kinds of ideas and scares the hell out of most people. He doesn't realize the impact he is having. I want him to succeed but every time I bring up the problems, he walks away. Says I'm just being hardheaded and not open to change."
"Sounds like he's being a bit stubborn," I added.
"You got that right."
"A chip off the old block?" I asked with a wry smile. Ed paused for a moment, shooting me a dirty look and then nodded his head affirmatively.
"Unfortunately, yes," he grimaced, leaning back in his chair in resignation. "Rick, I don't know what I'm going to do. He's the future of this company but I've got serious doubts he can make the leap. Family or not, I'll be damned if I'm going to let him run this thing into the ground. There's too much at stake."
Look for Part 2 in next month's article on Generational Leadership and hear Brian's side of the story.
Rick P. Thomas is President of Activate Leadership, a leadership development consultancy in Washington State. He consults and speaks to organizations across the country, focusing on individual and organizational achievement.
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