Q & A Table of Contents
As The Boss Ages, He’s Not Flexible And It’s Hurting Business
From: Miguel, Mexico City, Mexico
Question: My boss and president of the Group, is 82 years old, and since a year ago we have not able to change his mind in order to manage his enterprise as a lucrative business. We are not making money at all and we have not found the right approach to convince him to revitalize the company with "new" ideas: promotion, publicity, marketing, incentives, commissions, etc. He wants to keep the company as a family store, but the market is really aggressive and we have not been able to convince to change to new technologies and new concepts.
Response: If the boss’s behavior has changed, if he used to be open-minded and entrepreneurial, then perhaps something has changed in his personality. He may be threatened by suggestions of change, he may fear losing control, perhaps he is losing his capacity to delegate decision-making.
Take a look at who the stakeholders are who depend the most on the boss. If he has a wife and/or children, perhaps he could be interested in strengthening the business for their benefit. If he is isolated — from his family, from his employees, from others with whom he has had business relationships, it may be that refusing to listen to new ideas is his only way of protecting his ego in a situation where he fears losing power.
Try to figure out whether he listens to anyone — and if you can find such people, look for ways to bring them around to your way of thinking and to become the advocates of your ideas to the boss. Perhaps there are old friends, outsiders such as his lawyer or account, business colleagues to whom he is likely to pay attention. If you get their ear, perhaps they can convince him to open his mind.
Ask him a lot of open-ended questions — don’t simply ask “Do you want the business to fail?” Instead ask “How do you feel about this particular circumstance?” “What do you think we should do to improve the ‘x’ account?”
Sometimes when people feel that the business world is ignoring them, they feel they can remain involved and influential by reducing the speed of the decision-making process and forcing others to pay attention to them, rather than the substantive issues that need resolution.
You should look at your personal options — like figuring out where you can work if your present employer goes out of business. You should examine the options available to you and your colleagues — like buying the business from its present owner. And you should look for allies who can influence your boss and help open his mind to the kinds of things that need to be done to resurrect the business.
Good luck,
Steve
| 
