The Reorg #trust30 Challenge – Day 26
I accepted a blogging challenge called #Trust30 in honor of the republishing of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s book Self-Reliance. Essentially over the next 30 days I will be given snippets of thoughts from which I must create something. In my case that something will be written works.
Today’s challenge is as follows:
The secret of fortune is joy in our hands. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
What if today, right now, no jokes at all, you were actually in charge, the boss, the Head Honcho. Write the “call to arms” note you’re sending to everyone (staff, customers, suppliers, Board) charting the path ahead for the next 12 months and the next 5 years. Now take this manifesto, print it out somewhere you can see, preferably in big letters you can read from your chair.
You’re just written your own job description. You know what you have to do. Go!
(bonus: send it to the CEO with the title “The things we absolutely have to get right – nothing else matters.”)
(Author: Sasha Dichter)
Good morning. If everyone could settle down, we have a lot to get through today.
The first thing I want to do is confirm and deny some rumors that have been circulating. Yes, as you have already guessed by the signage in the room, SeanCo is going through a reorganization. I know everyone gets a little freaked out when a reorg is done. There is a lot of worry about org charts, titles, and procedural changes. I also know that no matter how much myself or the senior staff tell you not to worry, you will worry.
The second rumor is the reorg is going to generate a lot of layoffs. I am not going to blow smoke up here, yes, some of you will lose your jobs. It is inevitable as we streamline our corporation to better fit in the marketplace we need to reduce redundancy and eliminate waste. Lean and hunger will win the day.
I’m going to give you a top down look at what the reorg will do to Seanco, take some questions, and then let your senior VPs give you a view of how each of their departments is going to look in breakdown sessions.
I’m remaining at the top of the organization. I know that may be controversial since I’ve obviously helmed this project for the past forty years and our success in the last twenty has been below the market predictions. The board did feel that I have the most experience with the individual s in this organization and managing the different personalities. Actually you will discover that there are only familiar faces at the top.
The corporation will be broken down into the following departments.
Executive Board. This will include myself, the Chief Operations Officer, and the Chief Financial Officer. Technology, Marketing, Sales, and R&D aren’t being included at the Executive level. We had much discussion about this but at the end of the day, we felt narrowing the decision making voices was the appropriate thing to do.
Direction under me will be the Senior VP of Creativity. As you are aware the primary focus of Seanco is the development of creative work s. I want to have a firm control over that arena. We are going to amplify our efforts in the creation process. Beneath the VP of Creativity are the Director of Research and Development , the Director of New and Enriched Media, the Director of Wordsmithing.
Under the Chief Financial Officer, we have the VP of Accounting and the VP of Investments. Under the VP of Accounting are the Director of Accounts Payable and the Director of Accounts Receivable. Under the VP of Investments are the Director of Retirement, the Director of Crisis Funds. There really won’t be a lot of changes under Finance in the reorg, but there will be a clearer role for each function and we really want to see Accounts Receivable grow over the next few years.
Under the Chief Operations Officer we are going to see a lot of changes. First, we are adding a VP of Marketing and Public Relations. I know we’ve let marketing functions just be handled by whomever was available, but we need to spend more time in this regard. Our public image is not the best. A survey shows people consider us – old, unattractive, unkempt, unreliable, and a bit of a basket case. Part of our problem over the past twenty years is we never addressed any of this. Expect a more intense marketing push and expect our PR efforts to ramp up. All of you are going to be expected to step up and participate. Each of your individual images is a part of the whole company image. You need to buy into the new values and embrace them. Make them your own.
The VP of Sales will have an increased role. Our people in R&D, New Media, and Wordsmithing can churn out amazing things but we need to get those amazing things into the hands of people willing to pay money for them.
The VP of Technology will also report to the COO. Technology enables our efforts, it doesn’t drive our efforts. For too long we’ve allowed technology and tech services to drive revenue and that has led us down some dead ends. Seanco is a creation company, not a technology company. We will use technology in the creative process. Hopefully this change will help properly align our values.
We will also have a VP of Logistics that will coordinate transportation, shipping and receiving, and company purchasing.
So what does this all mean in actuality? One year from now Seanco will have a significant part of its yearly revenue coming in from creative works. Five years from now, Seanco will be in the business of creating and selling not only inhouse creative works but also fostering the creative works of other smaller or newer companies.
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About Sean
Sean D. Francis is a technologist, writer, and geek. He podcasts, makes video, and dabbles in all the geeky genres including horror, sci-fi, and fantasy. View all posts by Sean → This entry was posted in Thoughts and tagged #Trust30. Bookmark the permalink.← Ordinary Person #trust30 Challenge – Day 25 | Forget Five Years From Now – What about Today? #trust30 Challenge – Day 27 →
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