The five temptations of a CEO a leadership fable

The five temptations of a CEO a leadership fable OF A ALEADERSHIP FABLE PATRICK LENCIONI U S 20 00 I he Five lemptations of a CEO As he stared out the picture window from his office, Andrew OBrien w.The five temptations of a CEO a leadership fable OF A ALEADERSHIP FABLE PATRICK LENCIONI U S 20 00 I he Five lemptations of a CEO As he stared out the picture window from his office, Andrew OBrien w.

OF A

I he Five lemptations of a CEO

As he staredoutthepicture windowfromhis

office, Andrew O'Brien wonderedhow ithad

come to this.

Tomorrow wouldhetheone-yearanniversary

0/ hispromotion to CEO. It wouldalso be the

firsthoardmeetingin which he wouldbeaccountableforthe results of an entire fiscal

year Those results, as hehadgrown tomedto saying, were "unspectacularat best.

accus-"

point in his brief tenure asCEO, a point heneverexpectedto reach sosoon

Andthen thingsgot worse

Tn this stunning business fiction debut,

Patrick Lencioni delivers a powerful

Young,ambitious,and overwhelmed, Andrew

O'Brien personifies a part of every leaderas

he wanders in search of the elusive silver

bullet that will propel him to success He

happens upon an unlikely guide who distills

the seemingly infinite list of leadership perilsinto the five temptations of a CEO. In an

intenseandoftencombativeexchange, thetwo

debate fundamental issues faced by all

lead-ers—issues involving personal integrit)' and

"The most fascinating book I have ever read about

man-agement Pat Lencioni thrusts into the psyche ofa CEO in

anextremelyshrewd manner andrevealsthevulnerabilitiesthere I could not help but feel that I was the one beingconfronted while readingit."

Amer-icanHonda Motor Company

"Lencionigoesright to thecore ofwhatis atonce simpleand

profoundly hard to do as a leader: to take actions that are

conscious and honest, always He challenges us to be

authentic—at precisely those moments when we are most tempted to act outof ego,vanity, orfear. WhenIam doinga

goodjob, I'm aware offollowing the principleshesuggests."

—Dr Diane Flannery, CEO, JumaVentures

"Leadership is about motivatingothers to achieve superior

results It demands thatindividuals riseabove the inherent

Insightful and entertaining The Five Temptations ofa CFO

provides a practical construct that will help every general

manager become more effective."

"I normally cringe every time someone insists read yet

another book on leadership or corporate philosophy, but I

must admit 1 warmed up to The Five Temptations oja CEO

quickly—plainEnglish,simple truths,eminently digestible."

"A fast-reading page-turnerthat puts things in theirproper

perspective—it makes you realize that corporate life is not

as complicated asyou think."

—Sal Schiliro, Publisher,Street&Smith's SportsGroup

''The Five Temptations of a CEO tells it like it really is at

the top In vivid prose storytelling, Lencioni depicts thechallengeandinspirationofovercomingthe five deceptive-

lysimple barriers tosuccessful leadership."

— John Alexander, President, Center for Creative

Leadership

"PatLencionihaswrittena compellinganddelightful

para-ble. The Five Temptations of a CEO blends Pats brilliantstorytelling abilitywith his extensive practical experience

It gives us a \dbrant illustration of the success factors for

leadershipinbusiness . andinlife. Anyone, CEOor erwise, can benefit from thisbook."

oth-— Terry Pearce, author Leading Out Loud; Senior Vice

President, Executive Communication, Charles

University ofCalifornia, Berkeley

"Few books you

does thatandmore TheFive TemptationsofaCEO holdsthe

keytoaCEO'sabilitytoleam andacompany'sabilitytoform Arealjoy to read for anyone who wants to become a

per-CEO; amust readforanyone who wants to stayone."

—^Alan Anderson, President and CEO, Quintus poration

Cor-''TheFiveTemptationsojaCEOisapowerful book Powerful

in its simplicity, powerful in its honesty, powerful in its

humanity Pat Lencioni is a wise and engaging storyteller

thrive in one of the loneliest places on the planet—the

boss's office!"

— Jim Kouzes, coauthor, TheLeadership Challengeand

Credibility; Chairman, Tom Peters Group/Learning

Systems

"Outstanding! I've read many management books and this

oneisgreat!Allmanagerscanleam fromthisquick-reading,honest, and simpleto understand book It isamust readif

you want to improve your executive management skills.

I've made a wallet-sized reference card of the five

tempta-tions so that I don't stray"

— Michael Rowe, President and Chief Operating

Officer, NewJersey Nets

a compelling way It will change the way we look at our

behavior and priorities without feeling guilty The

late-night commute home will never be the same ."

Confuse aMemo with Reality

"Take it from a confirmed 'business book basher': The FiveTemptationsofa CFO is not singing the same old song No

jargon, no pseudo-science, no strained sound-bites, no

tedium —justa percipient parable for those on whom

oth-ers depend forleadership."

Strategyand Policy, Eli Lillyand Company

"Lencioni understands the subde but critical challenges

that every CEO must ultimatelyface."

CommerceOne

lev-els—in any organization! The fable is a great way to get

hooked."

— TomKurtz, architect, coach,navigator, facilitatorfor

organization breakthrough, Procter and Gamble

"Icouldn't stopthinking aboutthepeople work withand

howthisbookapplies tothem I'mgoingtokeep a copyof

this on my desk and use itas a tool for coaching."

—Leilani Gayles, VicePresident ofHumanResources,

disturbed by it because they're going to realize that all the

problems in theorganization start with them."

— MarkTalucci, Presidentand CEO, The Sak

"Most ofus have succumbed to one or more ofthe

'temp-tations' describedinthisbook —but notforlong.Thisbook

is worthy ofthe attention of any CEO or manager at any

"Usinga 'novel'format, Lencioni guides not onlyCEOs,but

also all managers, toa more productiveway ofthinking .

and acting!"

''The Five Temptations oj a CEO really got me thinking Itmade me reexamine my own performance and gave me some insights on how I could do myjob better."

—-Jerome L Dodson, President, The Parnassus Fund

"Lencioni has founda great waytocommunicate about theissueswe faceas leaders .Aquick,easy, enjoyableread!"

— John Stoner, President and General Manager, True

Temper Hardware

"Well, well, well I am tempted to readit again! Wouldthat

make the sixth temptation? I actually read it on vacation

and could not put it down A very clever approach to

bringing clarityto the CEO mystique andprocess In

lead-ingmy owninitiatives, theseconceptswere abundantly

rel-evant I look forward to providing a copy ofthis to all the

CEOsin ourportfolio."

— Rick Patch,Partner, Sequel Venture Partners

THE FIVE

Temptations

CEO

OF A

Copyright© 1998 byJossey-Bass Inc., Publishers, 350SansomeStreet,

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B

eing the chief executive ofan organization is one ofthe most difficult challenges a person can face in acareer But it is not a complicated one

with this statement They'll tell you theirjobs are riddled

withcomplexities and subtleties that make success

impos-sible topredict Iftheirorganizationsfail,theymaypointto

a tired list ofcauses like strategic errors, marketing quacies, competitive threats, and technology failures. But

inade-these are only symptomsoftheir troubles

The Five of CEO

All chief executives who fail— and most ofthem do at one

time oranother— make the same basic mistakes; they

suc-cumb to one (ormore!) ofthe Five Temptations ofa CEO.

If this is true, if a CEO's success hinges on just a few

behaviors, thenwhydon'tmoreofthemsucceed? Why do

they keep looking at the same financial statements,

prod-uct development schedules, and marketing reports in

search of a silver bullet? I think Lucille Ball answers this

questionbest

In an old episode of the I Love Lucy show, Ricky comes

home to find Lucycrawlingaround the living room on all

fours When heasks herwhat she'sdoingshe explains that

she has lost her earrings "You lostyourearrings in the

liv-ingroom?" Rickyasks Lucyreplies, "No, 1 lost themin the

For many CEOs the light is best in places like marketing,

strategic planning, and finance, safe havens from the

pain-ful darkness ofbehavioral self-examination Unfortunately,

theyfind littleopportunity formeaningful improvementinthese areas

Even relatively progressive executives often stay in the

comfort oftheir "livingrooms," sampling management fads

and leadership trendsin search ofrelativelypainless

reme-The of

dies for theirills. While some ofthose remedies appear to

workfora while, they eventually leave executives exposed

to the same basic issues that caused their problems in the

first place, the ones explored in this book

The tragedy here is that most executives are intuitive

to do anything about it. Instead, they unconsciously tract themselves and others from their personal leadership

dis-issues bygettingoverlyinvolvedinthedetails oftheirnesses, often to the point of creating complexity where it

busi-shouldn't exist.

Essentially, what they are doing is putting the success of

their organizations injeopardy because they are unwilling

to face— and overcome —theFive Temptations ofa CEO.

To my mother andfather, my wife Laura,

I

Andrew

Andrew O'Brien hadn't been the last person to

leave the offices of Trinity Systems for the past

fiveyears In fact,he hadn't stayedpast midnight

since taking thejob of CEO.

As he stared out the picture window from his office above San Francisco, he wondered how ithad come to this.

promotion It would also be the first board meeting in

which he would be accountable forthe results ofan entire

fiscal year Those results, as he had grown accustomed to

saying, were "unspectacular at best."

TheFive of CEO

But the results didn't bother Andrew as much as his state

of mind did Lately, he wasn't comfortable walking the

hallsofhis company He didn'tfeel atease leadinghisown

executive staff meetings And certainly he wasn't looking

forward to meeting with the board tomorrow They

prob-ablywouldn't be too tough on him, he thought, but they

wouldn't be patting him on the back either

Andrew O'Brien could not denythat he was at a low point

in his tenure as CEO, a point he never expected to reach

so soon

And then things gotworse

BART

thattherewere nocars headingeasttowardOakland

traf-fic filledthecityat allhours ofthenight He lookedoverat

the clock onhis desk and sawthat itwas 12:02 a.m Even

at this hour there were always cars on the bridge Traffic

never really stopped m San Francisco, short of an

earth-quake

Inhismind's eye,Andrew sawthe orange roadsignshe had

been driving by on his way home every night for the past

TheFive of CEO

BAY BRIDGE CLOSED EOR REPAIRS

MARCH 4&5

It hadn't occurred to Andrew that he might need to crossthe bridge at this hour Slowly it dawned on him that he

wanted to go out ofhisway, across the GoldenGate Bridge

and back over the Richmond Bridge and down Interstate

him more than an hour of driving time, and with at least

two hours ofwork to do before tomorrow's meeting, thatdidn't seemlike a good idea

On anyothernighthe wouldjustcheckintooneof the

full-service hotels near the office, give his clothes to the

all-night dry cleaningservice, and be readyto go by morning.

ButtonightAndrew wantedto sleep inhis ownbed, ifonly

fora few hours Besides, he was determinedto see his wife

and kids m themorning Though he would neveradmitit,

Andrew needed a little moral support

So he put his papers in his briefcase, grabbed his coat, and headed forthe door

The street below was almost as deserted as the offices

above, with the exception of the doorway down the block

where the homeless man everyone called Benny lived.

Andrew sometimes ponderedBenny's plight togivehimself

a relative sense ofreliefwhen things weren't goingwell inhislife. But tonightit didn'twork He could not escapehis

obsession with the dreaded board meeting that would

beginin just nine hours

As hewalked stiffly toward theBay Area Rapid Transit

sta-tion two blocks away Andrew wondered how long it had

been since he'd used public transportation Had it been

eightyears? Ten?

Riding the escalator down into the subway terminal,Andrew wassurprisedtoseeno onearound.The BART sta-

Takinga ticketfrom themachine on thewall, he went toa

bench wherehis trainwould be arrivingand sat down He

wassurprised thathe didn'tfeeloutofplace Ten yearshavegonehyjast, he whispered tohimself

Before he could even take his papers out of his briefcase,

the trainarrived Asthe first fewcars sped by him and the

train began to slow, Andrew noticed that no one was on

board At least that's what he thought

3

Charlie

Takingthe first seat near the door, Andrew

sudden-ly felt exhausted He had intended to work during

the 30-minute ride to the suburbs but found

him-selfwanting tojust sit there and stare at the color-coded

map ofthe transit system and ponder the geographic

lay-out of the Bay Area Anything to take his mind off the

board meeting

Just as the train descended into the darkness of the tunnel

that ranbeneath the bay and Andrew'seyes beganto close,

one of the connecting doors behind him opened He

turned and saw an elderly man wearing some sort of

uni-form step into the car. He appeared tobe ajanitor ofsome

TheFive of CEO

kind; the name "Charlie" was patched onto the pocket of

his gray shirt.

Suddenly Andrew felt uncomfortable Should I talk to this

man? he thought Certainly he'll expect me to acknowledge

him; there's no oneelseon the train. But what do Isay?

It had cometo this forAndrew He had no problem talking

tothetelevision reporterfrom theFinancialNetwork when

the stock dropped six months ago He was completelycomfortable making a presentation to more than two hun-

dred analysts at the marketing conference But for some

unexplainable reason, tonight Andrew was uneasy — even nervous —at the prospect of exchanging middle-of-

the-night pleasantries with an old man And a janitornonetheless

Beforehecould thinkofsomethingtosay, thewhite-haired

man walked by himwithout sayinga word, exited into the

next car, and was gone

Andrew was surprised that, instead of feeling relieved, he

felt insulted that the janitorhadjust ignored him

But again,theboard meetingintrudedon histhoughts, and

Andrewdecided itwas time toget towork As he reached

for his briefcase, the lights inside the car flashed, then

faded,andthetraincameto ascreechingstop Sittingalone

in thedimlight, Andrew wonderedifthingscould possibly

getworse,whenthe doorleading into thenextcar opened

"Come on," the oldmaninthe janitor suit said "What are

you waitingfor?" Then he left.

I

-4

Contact

At first Andrew didn't move He just looked at the

seat next to him as though he were searching for

advice from someone who wasn't there Then,

withouta great deal ofhesitation, hefollowedthemanintothe next car. Thejanitor was sitting with his back toward

the door Whistling

Andrewdecided the old man was crazy Who elsewould be

riding a BART train at 12:30 in the morning and asking

strangers to follow them? he thought to himself But then

again, whosfollowingthisguy around a dark train?

Maybe it was because he was tired; maybe because he was desperate for something to distract him For whatever

TheFive of CEO

reason, Andrew walked up to the man and took the seat

across from him

Before Andrew could speak, the old man said matter of

factly, "The heatin this caris the best on thetrain. Oncool

nightslike this I prefercominghere to talk."

"To talk about what?" Andrew asked, realizing

immediate-ly what a ridiculous question it was "To talk to whom?"

But theold man answered withouta pause "Whatever you

want to talkabout."

Puzzled now, Andrew asked the obvious question: "I'm

sorry sir, but do I know you?" He always called strangers

"sir," especiallyoldermen Eveniftheywerejanitors

The old mansmiled "Not yet."

Convinced now that the old man wasnuts, Andrews tone

turnedparental,almostcondescending "Sothen, you work

on the train?"

"Sometimes I do If that's where I'm needed," the old man

said without a hint of pretention "What do you do for a

living?"

I

The of aCEO

Andrew seemed at a loss. "Well, I guess I'm in nology."

tech-"What kind oftechnology?"

"Allkindsreally Everythingfromcalculatorstocommercial computer systems I work for a company called Trinity

Systems."

"Ohyes, I'veheard ofthat."

Andrew wondered ifhe wasjust pretending to know thecompany

The oldmancontinuedhisquestioning "So,you're a

tech-nicalguy then?"

Andrewpaused, decidedtojust say yesandleave it at that.

Then, forsome unknownreason,he suddenlyfelttheneed

name isAndrew."

"Well, I'm Charlie Nice tomeet you."

As they shook hands, Andrew noticed that the old man

hadn't flinched at the mention of his title. Does he even

The of CEO

you do?"

Charlie smiled "Listen, Andrew. We're not here to talk

about me. Let's talk about you."

The old man's quirky response almost amused Andrew, but tomorrow's board meeting wouldn't permit it.

"Actually, I was going to do some work on the ride home.

I've got a big meeting tomorrow, and I have a lot to do

still." Andrew immediately felt bad for sounding like he

was brushingoffthe oldman, which was basicallywhat he

was tryingto do

"Oh, I'm sorry," Charlie said politely "I'll just leave you

alone then You're obviously verybusy" He stood to leave,

and Andrew decided to let him go

Suddenly the lights inside the train flashed off— and then

on — and then completely off again The motionless train

was now pitch black

From the darkness Andrew heard Charlie's voice "Not to

worry, young man." Not more than a second later the old

man turnedon a flashlight Andrew wondered howhehad

it ready so quickly, but he wasjust glad to have the light,

so he didn't ask