S+B: You’re very big on finding mechanisms that take the mystique of executive leadership and turn it into a real-world exercise. For example, you always follow up meetings with letters. “Follow through” is another one of your essential behaviors.
BOSSIDY: Letters eliminate confusion about what was decided on. If a person gets a letter and discovers it doesn’t reflect what he believed was decided, he immediately calls back to have a conversation to resolve it. Secondly, a letter gives you a history. So, when I go to that office or factory the next time, I can take out the letter and ask, “Now, were these things done? And if they weren’t done, why weren’t they done?”
I don’t like situations where you have a far-ranging discussion of something, and then you come to a conclusion, and somehow or other it never happens. Often, I’ll put in a sentence: “Please get back to me in a month as to what you’ve done about these things.”
S+B: Who writes the letters?
BOSSIDY: I do. I write them on the plane coming home. If someone else drafts them, I edit them and sign them. They have basically been paper letters. Today, I’ll use e-mail more frequently.
The point is to begin to build a record. Instead of just bugging the guy every day — which I don’t think is a good idea for you, the CEO, or your managers — the expectations are on the record. As you keep doing this, things happen.
ONE TUSK 