Jean-Baptiste Karr, the French journalist and satirist first penned the phrase, “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose,” which is loosely translated as “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

In organizations, the phenomenon I observe most is executives who give lip service to change, but in reality, never really change.  Thus, the more the senior executives stay the same, the more the rest of the organization will stay the same as well.

Senior executives bear a disproportionate share of the responsibility for the culture and performance of an organization.

Why?  Because the senior executives actions (good or bad) are magnified disproportionately – maybe 10X –by the rest of the organization.

• If the senior executives work well together as a team, the organization will be a consistent top performer.

• If the senior executives have a common vision, the entire organization will align behind it.

• If the senior executives articulate a clear and compelling strategy, every department will do their part to execute and deliver it.

• However, if the senior executive team is a little dysfunctional, the organization will be very dysfunctional.

• If they are very dysfunctional, the organization will be a disaster.

Unfortunately, many senior executive teams have been highly dysfunctional for years … and wonder why their organizations are not performing up to their potential.  Step one is to confront reality and take responsibility.   Perhaps the CEO needs a reality check.  Perhaps a few of the executives need to go.

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