Page 121 - Executive Warfare

Rivals

than almost any other. They’ll do anything—anything reasonably legal—
to make great numbers right before a job opens up. They’ll push their sales
forces brutally hard. They’ll count all the revenue they can, including some
revenue that actually should be booked for next quarter.
Well, the wonderful thing about quarters is that they end. The bad news
is, the new quarter starts the next day.
By then, everybody’s spent. There’s nothing left in the coffers. There’s
nothing left in terms of people’s energy. And maybe the opening that was
supposed to appear doesn’t.Yeah, some-
body was going to retire—but then,
sometimes, a mind gets changed. You MORE EXECUTIVES
can’t always predict when it’s going to TAKE OUT THIS
happen. So trying to inflate your num- PETARD AND BLOW
bers in the expectation that you’re going THEMSELVES UP
to hit the quarter just right is as silly as WITH IT THAN
a football coach saying, “Let’s score all ALMOST ANY
the touchdowns in the first half and OTHER. THEY’LL DO
hope the other team doesn’t score any in ANYTHING—
the second half.” ANYTHING
Equally short-sighted is trying to REASONABLY
bribe your team with big bonuses to LEGAL—TO MAKE
win their loyalty, a political player’s way GREAT NUMBERS
to keep a political base. Using compen- RIGHT BEFORE A
sation as a political tool usually back- JOB OPENS UP.
fires because you generally can’t keep
giving everybody huge amounts of
money every year. Soon the empire gets too big, and you have to spread
it too far. And suddenly, your formerly loyal lieutenants are grumbling
and have decided to help somebody else win the big job.
A lot of short-term rivals wind up being short term by doing dumb
things. These contests are not coups, generally. They are sieges. So time is
on your side. Relax and behave like a leader.

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