Why do none of the internal candidates qualify for the executive director positi

Question

Why do none of the internal candidates qualify for the executive director position

List of candidates:

Candidate 1 - Jackie Johnson – Current Position - Director of Purchasing  

Jackie Johnson currently works as Director of Purchasing and obtained this job right out serving in the military. She is a graduate of a university's business administration program. Johnson entered the interview room all smiles and with a firm handshake. The interviewer admitted to being impressed by the firm handshake and the constant eye contact throughout the interview. Johnson was very prepared to discuss her future with the company. She had completed extensive research on all four geographic divisions prior to the interview. Johnson had also spoken with current employees throughout Headquarters. Johnson indicated that, as Director of Purchasing, she had worked very hard to create a small business “subculture” within her department. She felt that her employees were empowered to make their own decisions, which freed her to think strategically about purchasing for the company. She admits that this “free-rein” approach to leadership has sometimes allowed her department to have missteps in distribution with divisions outside of North America. She has worked hard to overcome that image by altering her leadership style according to the situation or the employee she is dealing with.  

Her approach to leading is to look for leadership opportunities and encourage employees to act upon them, if possible. Johnson believes she is positive about the future and while she admits to only having worked in the purchasing department, she feels that she can bring a big picture perspective to the company, having worked with both suppliers and customers in purchasing. When asked about her risk tolerance, she replied, “I believe that is demonstrated in the small-business, entrepreneurial subculture I created in purchasing. At the end of the day, I’m more risk tolerant than cautious.” Johnson said she sees herself as a transformational leader. She feels that good leadership is built on good relationships with followers. Relational theory seems to make the most sense to her for the 21st century because people make change work, and leading change is the future.  

Candidate 2 - Henrietta Higgins – Current Position – Assistant Director of Purchasing  

Henrietta currently works at Headquarters in the Purchasing Department. She is 28 years old with 3 years of college. Henrietta is a business administration major and expects to graduate in about one year. She is friendly and has a quiet demeanor. She does not tolerate much nonsense from people, hates surprises, and wants people to be brief in talking with her.  

When asked what she likes about her current position, she replied that she likes the feeling of a small-business that her boss has created within the purchasing department. She appreciates that it makes her feel in control in such an environment. She likes the idea of the collaborative environment of the company and responded well to the idea that her opinions and suggestions were always welcome. However, she expressed some concern that the youthful employees of IT, and some other departments, had plenty of opinions but not a lot of discipline in their work ethic. She has found that structure, procedures, and rules have worked better than asking for input. When asked how her staff perceived her, she laughed and said they called her a “Type A.”. The interviewer noted that during this statement, it was only one of two times during the interview that she held his gaze for any length of time. When asked what characteristics she thought a leader needed to possess to succeed in the 21st century she replied, “…objective, practical, controlled and fair.” Higgins said her leadership style was transactional but the interview was not sure if it was not more authoritarian.  

When asked what leadership theory she thought was most likely to work in the 21st century her reply was “Great Man, because it emphasizes the characteristics of a person like honesty and trust.” Higgins’s knowledge of the business was sound but when asked if anyone could be a leader she said no. It was up to the position that a person holds. Higgins did understand that sustainability was very important to the business. She said she had some ideas on how to make the process aspects of the company better and more efficient while saving cost. She also thought that being eco-friendly was important but realized that was the other meaning of the word sustainability in business.  

Candidate 3 – Mohammad Darvish – Current position – Marketing Manager, Homeopathic Division (Corporate Headquarters)  

Darvish currently manages the sales of the Homeopathic Division. He enjoys working with a customer until they are satisfied and regrets having to shortchange the time he spends with customers today. He also feels that the company culture has become more rigid over the past few years. When asked to elaborate he responded, “Folks are scared of making mistakes. If there has been anything I’ve been seeking to change in the homeopathic division, it’s that it’s okay to make mistakes, as long as we learn from them.” When asked what characteristics he thought a leader needed to succeed in the 21st century, he replied, “…flexible, risk tolerant, insightful and honest.”  

He liked the collaborative culture of the company and showed signs of having done his homework on the other divisions, particularly Asia. The company, he said, would do well if it made sure that this division continued its existing culture because it encouraged creativity.  

When asked how he created followers among his employees, Darvish replied that he liked to use incentive motivational techniques and would sometimes empower workers if they demonstrated the ability to take risks. Darvish said he was sometimes a laissez-faire leader because it encouraged freedom of thinking. He said he would solve problems largely through “good teaming and collaboration”. His said his favorite leadership theory was contingency theory because it allowed him to approach things by the situation. He liked to agree with people and saw himself as being flexible. When asked how he dealt with change, he replied, “In this business, if you’re not changing, you’re dying.”  

Candidate 4 – Marg Simpson – Current position – Sales Director, Chicago Office  

Marg Simpson is 36 years old. She is a single mother of two. She was a nurse for 8 years before coming to work for the company in the marketing area of the sales division in Chicago. She has been working for the company for four years. Her immediate manager reported that Marg is highly motivated and competent at her job. Her manager said that Marg’s biggest asset is that she “looked at challenges as opportunities and often found creative solutions to problems that others had not considered.”  

Simpson’s nursing years were spent at the University of Chicago in Orlando Park. Surrounded by a large Muslim community the hospital gave classes in Arabic and Simpson found it very useful in her work to attend Arabic classes. She learned not only how to carry on a conversation with non-English speaking patients but the names of many drugs and over-the-counter treatments. Simpson enjoyed her time in Orlando Park and found the culture of the families very compatible with her own ideas of family.  

When asked if she was risk tolerant or risk-averse, she answered: “I occasionally reward risk-taking in the work environment. I do not think a poorly planned risk is wise, but sometimes you have to take a chance in sales. It is not for the faint-hearted. But at the end of the day, I’d describe myself as more risk-averse than tolerant.”  

Having read about the opportunity through the company's HR division website, Simpson was excited about the possibility of moving her career forward. When asked if she were to relocate to other regions, such as the Middle East, if it would present problems for her, she only said. “Initially, but if I plan things out well, surround myself with good people and learn about my clients I am sure I could overcome the cultural drawbacks to being a woman.”  

While she describes herself as being very familiar with Muslim cultures, Simpson freely admits that she knows little about Europe or South America. She has read some information and thinks she could learn another language if she is given help and the time needed to learn.  

Simpson has many innovative ideas about increasing sales. Simpson’s evaluations are superior and she works well with her team. Her colleagues suggest that she is flexible and a people-first person. Her eye contact is good and she comes off as being very authentic. She describes her leadership style as “a blend of situational and transformational” and describes herself as a relational leader. The interviewer noted that at times she seemed to be more future-oriented in her comments and may need to worry more about the here and now when getting things done.  

Candidate 5 – Rafael Mendez – Current Position – Director of Sales, New Mexico  

Mendez currently is Director of the New Mexico sales division of the company. He was the company's top salesman before taking over the Director position. Mendez is 32 years old. A recent divorce from his wife has made him eager to make a change in his career. Mendez’s wife was Brazilian. Mendez is fluent in Portuguese. When asked if he was open to moving outside of the United States, Mendez replied that he was “open to adventure.” He had not traveled excessively but had gone to Brazil regularly with his wife when they were together. He was familiar with the problems of a developing country.  

Mendez enjoys working with customers and spends a lot of time with them making sure they are satisfied. Darvish enjoys the company's collaborative culture. He feels that one of the secrets to his own sales success is the ability to coordinate with other departments within the company, including purchasing, IT, R&D, and HR. As part of his 360-degree performance appraisal, his team gave him glowing reviews. He got equally high ratings from the more senior (Baby Boomer) salespeople on his team as the younger (millennial) salespeople.  

When asked what characteristics he thought a leader needed to succeed in the 21st century, he replied, “…you need to be a good listener, first and foremost.” He felt a good leader should change rapidly in a crisis and should be direct and assertive when dealing with people. When asked about the idea of a competitive edge he said “A leader has to worry about making money every day. It is important to have immediate results for all to see especially in sales. Even customers prefer to deal with successful salespeople than those that plod along.”   

Mendez believes he could do well in another country if the company ensured he received language and cultural training. He knew that understanding how people thought about business and their products was important but more likely the sale would be clinched if he knew what was and wasn’t good in the country in which he was selling. He stated, “Knowing your clients is everything in sales, so I suspect it is a very important part of leadership in the company as well.” When asked how he created followers among his employees, Mendez replied that he liked to have rules but room for deviation, and likes to provide flexibility in the job while staying results-driven. Mendez said he was a situational leader because it encouraged freedom, and allowed him to use different leadership styles with a diverse group of employees.  

Description for Executive Director:

As Executive Director, it is imperative the person fulfilling this leadership position will drive the vision and mission of the CEO and extend them into future objectives and goals for the company. Leadership competencies for this position comprise of, but are not limited to, managing change, valuing and engaging inclusion and diversity, encouraging professional development, being congruent, inspiring a shared vision, and enhancing relationships and collaboration with stakeholders across the value chain.

Customer-centricity is a necessary core value for having the ability to manage change within the organization and with customers outside of the organization. The company strives to meet the core value of customer-centricity through valuing and engaging inclusion and diversity. And without this critical value, the company cannot grow and develop into a successful and global organization.

Knowledge is a highly regarded core value and must be braced by all leaders to encourage professional development at all levels of the organization. An understated core value of the company is sustainability. The company's sustainability must aim to inspire the shared vision and enhance relationships and collaboration with stakeholders across the value chain.

Explanation / Answer

The role of Executive Director in a nutshell is

Now let’s consider each of the candidates based on these criteria and see if there is anyone who is good match.

Jackie Johnson: She has worked her whole career for purchasing department. Has extensive experience. However, one of the drawbacks of working in purchasing is that the work culture is vendor facing rather than customer facing. In addition to that, she has a very democratic leadership and may not be suitable to carry forward the CEO’s vision to the rest of the organization.

Henrietta Higgins: Henrietta has the attitude and the personality for executive director. The only points of contention are her experience and the approach to problems. She has comparatively lesser experience than Jackie in the organization and has not completed her formal education of business. On the management style she has a very autocratic approach that may not go well with other department heads and stakeholders. Also she feels that not everyone can be a leader and this could result in selective training and development and violates the last point mentioned for Executive Director Role.

Mohammad Darvish: Mohammad aspires to be a laissez-faire leader and has worked in the corporate headquarter. The good point about him is his customer centered approach. However, he seems to be unhappy about the rigid organization structure present in headquarter. The point to note here is that while the rest of the organization can be free thinking and experimenting, corporate headquarters are meant to be the point of control. As a result, it cannot function in an extremely flexible manner. The lack of this understanding is warning for Mohammad as a candidate. Also considering that he has only worked in corporate headquarter, he unlikely knows what goes on in the ground level.

Marg Simpson: She has good experience. Being in sales, she is obviously customer focused and number driven. This is a good quality for an Executive Director. The points on which she may not be a suitable candidate is her limited exposure to other cultures and greater focus on long term than short term tactics. As an Executive Director, Marge may not only need to plan for the future but also execute the current plans.

Rafael Mendez: He is the best candidate for Executive Director Position as he meets most of the key criteria. The only thing he lacks is the cross cultural familiarity. In case an external candidate can be found who is as good as Mendez and has cross-cultural experience, he/she will be suitable for the role immediately.

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