Early in my career, I received a live plant from a client, which I placed in my office. Now, I must say, it really added to my décor and lifted the energy in my office. I liked it, yet it also caused me some stress. I knew I was not good at taking care of plants. CeCe, however, has a green thumb, and people constantly stop by our yard to compliment her landscaping, flowers, and decorations.
Back to my shortcomings, I recruited someone at the office to help me water the plant. Well, that plant didn’t last six months. Not because it died of thirst — it died of being overwatered. Yes, we quickly killed the plant between my frequent watering in the morning when I first came in and hers each afternoon before she left.
Now, that’s one lesson: Overwatering a plant will kill it. The bigger lesson, and one that I learned numerous times as CEO, is that if two people are responsible for a project, it is going to go sideways, fail, or, at best, take longer than necessary to complete. If two people are in charge, then no one is.
Just like you can count on one hand companies that are successful with two named CEOs, the same is true of projects and initiatives. Someone needs to be the lead and take ownership of the project. Don’t spin your wheels, hoping to keep everyone happy by not choosing the leader.
What has been your personal experience when you had two people in charge? Do you have a funny green thumb story to share with us?
The Rest of the Story
CeCe: I thought I asked you to water my plant on the carport.
Me: I forgot
CeCe: Well, you must have forgotten every day because it’s dead.
“If you were to anticipate how strong a company’s culture needs to be to transform and thrive in the future, Joey Havens paints a beautiful horizon in his book Leading with Significance.” Daniel Burrus
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