Work isn’t war

Peacetime CEO trains her employees to ensure satisfaction and career development. Wartime CEO trains her employees so they don’t get their asses shot off in the battle.

Someone somewhere once said that business is war without bullets, and I tended to agree.

Peacetime CEO aims to expand the market. Wartime CEO aims to win the market.

Having an enemy gives you a great story to tell customers, too. Taking a stand always stands out. People get stoked by conflict. They take sides. Passions are ignited. And that’s a good way to get people to take notice.

So the bottom line is this: As easy as it is to get sucked into your current role and start manically defending it, the territorial model just doesn’t work in a fast moving environment.

Those were the first words I spoke as I made the transition from a peacetime CEO to a wartime CEO. By virtue of my position and the fact that we were a public company, nobody besides me had the complete picture. I knew we were in deep, deep trouble. Nobody besides me could get us out of the trouble, and I was through listening to advice about what