204 50 TOPEXECUTIVECOACHES
internal behavior exist for each group. Group Acompanies are those that have
just been formed. Typically, they are high-tech companies that are consid-
ered leading edge, such as Cray Research in supercomputers or Genentech in
the pharmaceutical industry. Group B companies are established, proven
technology providers with a strong brand name, like IBM. Group Care cus-
tomer-focused companies, like Toyota, which provide market-segmented
products. Group Dcompanies are low-cost providers that compete solely on
pr ice. They typically manufacture goods in cheap labor markets such as
China. Years ago, Lucky Gold Star, which produced black and white televi-
sions, exemplified a Group Dcompany.
Naturally, CEOs are different in each category as well. Group ACEOs are
visionary leaders, confident if not arrogant about their concepts and capabil-
ity, caring only about the technology and the vision. Group BCEOs are
highly polished, and talk and look as though they have received their MBA at
Har vard or MIT. In Group C,the CEO is very market- and customer-focused
and probably rose through the operational ranks. In Group D,the CEO is an
ef ficient cost cutter.
In the old days, when product life cycles were long, these four categories
of CEOs and strategies worked perfectly. But in most industries today, new
products can be imitated within months. The company no longer has the
time to go through the arrogant and visionary stage, the sensitive-to-the-
customer stage, the price-conscious stage, or the efficient-cost-cutter stage.
Instead, the leader in a time of short product life cycle needs to be all of
these things at once.
This changes the leadership formula dramatically. The organization needs
to innovate, manage the brand, listen to the customer, compete on price and
become superefficient at the same time. Since no one person has all of these
skill sets, the management team becomes very diverse. The team must be
pulled together in new ways to deliver on the potential of the strategy.
Where to begin depends on where the organization is at in terms of its un-
derstanding of these new dynamics. Sometimes, the CEO has gone through
all the transformations during his tenure and knows intuitively what has hap-
pened to the company. He just wants his team to come along with him. Some-
times, in what always proves to be a more complicated situation, the team
has figured it, out but the light hasn’t gone on for the CEO yet.
The strategy implementation coach needs to build credibility between the
leader and the team, as well as between the team and the leader. Once that’s
established, the team is able to look at how other companies in other indus-
tries handled their transformation. From there, they can be guided to figure
out their own best solutions.