A best-selling author on leadership once described how he handled a major project when he transitioned into the lead executive position with a new company. The existing leadership team had recently finalized plans for a major construction project to expand the company’s primary location, but the executive was convinced that a larger expansion would be needed. He realized it would be difficult to convince the rest of the leadership team of his view since he was just starting with the company. Instead of challenging the plan directly, he formed a new committee and charged the members to hold a series of meetings to conduct a final review of the plan that had just been approved. He knew that the prolonged review process would allow enough time for his vision to influence the organization and yield positive results, ultimately demonstrating the need for the larger expansion. The executive’s motivation for forming the committee was not to have the plan reviewed. Instead, he was taking advantage of the reality that meetings can expend significant time and often have limited practical results. His plan worked. By the time the committee was ready to report on their conclusions, it was obvious that the organization had grown enough to warrant the larger construction project.
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