Learning from Wayne Managers' Strategic Effectiveness
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Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 341±355, 2002 ISSN 0090-2616/02/$ ± see frontmatter
ß 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. PII S0090-2616(02)00064-5
www.organizational-dynamics.com
Fast-Forwarding Time as the Essence of
Managers' Strategic Effectiveness:
Learning from Wayne
Gretzky
HEMANT C. SASHITTAL AVAN R. JASSAWALLA
Even in his prime, Gretzky wasn't Watching the less skilled and the less
very fast, his shot was oddly weak, initiated, one would think that the strategy
and he was last in the team in for great hockey is about honing the talents
strength training . . .. He would oper- for moving faster, shooting straighter, and
ate from his ``of®ce,'' the small space playing harderÐand becoming generally
in the back of the opponent's goal, more effective at chasing the puck.
anticipating where his team would The moving eulogy to a great career cited
be well before they got there and above and Gretzky's description of the rink
feeding them passes so unsuspected resonate with our learning from managers
he would often surprise them. For a involved in implementing marketing strate-
cover story in 1985 he told Time, gies in 50 industrial organizations. We learn
``People talk about skating, puck that their environments, not unlike the rink
handling and shooting but the whole Gretzky describes, are highly formative and
sport is angles and caroms, forget- emergent. As many scholars have noted in
ting the straight direction the puck is other contexts, managers' day-to-day reality
going, calculating where it will be emerges from the highly complex caroms
diverted, factoring in all the inter- occurring in the firm $ environment interface,
ruptions.'' TIME (April 26, 1999) i.e., from the intense interactions between the
®rm, customers, technology, competitors,
What Gretzky describes is his practiced and other forces. Consequently, the environ-
ability to fast-forward time; i.e., the ability to ment calls managers to simultaneously
travel forward in time and predict where, deploy plans and improvise on a day-to-
after seemingly in®nite combinations of rico- day basis. In this emergent context, much
chets and caroms, the puck will emergeÐ can be learned from some highly effective
and the ability to make his way to the precise managers who display the Gretzkyesque
spot. Gretzky's strategy, i.e., his objectives ability to fast-forward time. Their genius lies
and choices about deploying his talents and not so much in creatively responding to the
energies, is to focus on the game as it will changes thrust upon them, as in their learned
unfold ten seconds ahead of real-time, stay ability to: (a) predict where the market's and
ahead of the puck, and move to the spot the customers' interest will lie the next day,
where the puck ®nds him. Imagine that! the day after, and in the short term, and (b)
SPRING 2002 341position the ®rm in real-time to engage cus-
tomers with the right mix of product/service
offerings when those interests actually
emerge. Their day-to-day strategic choices,
i.e., their objectives and decisions about allo-
cating their time and energies, emerge as
brilliant in retrospect, after they have built
value-creating, trust-building relationships
with customers. Their skills are worth learn-
ing because in the real world, despite what
the strategic management literature says
about changing environments and creative
responsiveness, too many managers spend
Hemant C. Sashittal (Ph.D., Syracuse Univer-
too much time chasing the puck, and playing
sity) is Professor of Marketing at St. John Fisher
catch-up as it ricochets on ice.
College, Rochester, NY. His research interests
The notion of fast-forwarding time is not
relate to marketing strategy and implementation,
foreign to all managers. For instance, almost
and new product development. His research has
any one who has spent time anticipating with
been published in several journals, including the
a great deal of accuracy the unusual, non-
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,
routine events of the coming weeks, prepar-
Journal of Product Innovation Management,
ing for scenarios that in their estimation are
Academy of Management Executive, and Cali-
certain to emerge even when they are not
fornia Management Review.
evident to others, has fast-forwarded time.
Managers who, based on their prediction of
future events, have pre-lobbied their ideas,
garnered political support and gained com-
mitment toward their plans from people with
disparate views well before making them
public, and favorably in¯uenced the out-
comes of future events, have fast-forwarded
time. The amount of time managers spend
fast-forwarding time, and carefully crafting
strategies and tactics related to their day-to-
day actions, and generating a coherent
response from their ®rm, however, is woe-
fully low. Sadly, and all too often, the oppo-
site serves as a better descriptor of what
managers really do in practiceÐless of strat-
egy and tactics, and more of hustle, ®re®ghts,
and stop-gap actions.
In this article, we discuss our learning
about fast-forwarding time, and urge addi-
tional thinking about strategic responsive-
ness and effectiveness of managers by
organizing our thoughts in the following
way. We initially derive a continuum of time
based on the responses of managers we stu-
died, and show how they spend time, one of
their most important resources. We then dis-
cuss the key skills some highly effective
342 ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICSmanagers deploy to fast-forward time. We
compare and contrast ®re®ghts and fast-for-
warding time, and discuss implications that
can speak to the practical realities of man-
agers charged with producing meaningful
results in organizations.
HOW MANAGERS SPEND TIME
While most managers regard time as an
important resource, and are prone to advo-
cate for its judicious use, their actions often
belie their proclamations. Fig. 1 shows our Avan R. Jassawalla (Ph.D., Syracuse University)
learning about the three distinct ways man- is Assistant Professor of Management at the
agers make use of real-time in practice: (a) Jones School of Business, State University of
real-time spent firefighting, i.e., solving pro- New York at Geneseo. Her research interests
blems and responding to changes after they relate to new product development and imple-
have occurred, (b) real-time spent deploying, mentation of change initiatives in organizations.
improvising, and adapting, i.e., deploying Her research has been published in several
according to plan and simultaneously taking journals, including the Academy of Management
adaptive actions on a day-to-day basis to Executive, California Management Review, Jour-
accommodate changes that occur, and (c) nal of Product Innovation Management, Journal
real-time spent fast-forwarding time, i.e., of the Academy of Marketing Science, and
predicting how the near future will unfold, the Journal of Engineering and Technology
positioning the firm at the right place and at Management.
the right time in the market, and favorably
influencing outcomes.
As the ®gure shows, the continuum of
time emerges at the con¯uence of variables
related to managerial thinking and actions.
For instance, the horizontal axis re¯ects the
variance in the focus of managerial thinking.
Thinking associated with past occurrences is
positioned toward the left, that with extra-
polation of past events toward the middle,
and that with imagining the future to the
right of this continuum. Similarly, the ver-
tical axis re¯ects the variance in the focus of
managerial actions. Actions taken to correct
previous mistakes and solve problems after
they have occurred are clustered lower, and
those taken to prepare for future scenarios
are positioned higher on this continuum.
The segments along the continuum of time,
emerging at the con¯uence of managerial
thinking and action, show how managers
spend their real-time; i.e., ®re®ghting,
deploying and improvising, and fast-
forwarding time.
SPRING 2002 343FIGURE 1 THE Focus OF MANAGERIAL THINKING AND ACTION
Real-Time Spent Fire®ghting marketing from a precision tool and dye
manufacturer, describing his principal activ-
If it were possible to generalize such a thing, ity as a planner±implementer:
we estimate that greater than 40% of man-
agers' real-time is spent firefighting. Among I am a ®reman. I put ®res out. I have
the managers with whom we spoke, half to be reactive. Less and less of my
recount it as their principal activity, and all time is being able to be spent on
admit heavy involvement. Firefights refer to where I think it should be spent. . ..
the immediate reactions of managers, and to Fire®ghting, that's what we do; we
actions aimed at solving problems after they are ®remen.
have emerged. They refer to the hustle and
stop-gap actions by which managers rush to Even though the precise causes of ®re-
realign the firm with the changing environ- ®ghts are too numerous to list, several gen-
mental reality and prevent further deteriora- eralizations can be drawn. In general, they
tion in the relationship with key constituents, seem to occur as a result of any or all of the
particularly customers. They refer to see- following: (a) intentions and plans are not
mingly endless conversations on the phone suf®ciently responsive to environmental
or in person aimed at ensuring that the things changes, (b) planners and implementers
that ought to happen actually happen. Con- are poorly coordinated and unrealistic pro-
sider the response of a vice-president of mises are made to important constituencies
344 ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS(particularly customers), and/or (c) people We know managers are improvising,
within the organization do not perform versus ®re®ghting, when their actions pro-
according to plan. For instance, when con- duce results, solve problems, and move the
fronted with an unfavorable situation such as ®rm purposefully forward. Improvisations
a lost order, delayed shipment, angry custo- have little meaning, and are hard to distin-
mer, or unexpected introduction of discounts guish from ®re®ghts, unless actions are
by competitors, managers are forced to anchored to clearly de®ned plans. The
spend inordinate time and energy on the vice-president of the precision tool manufac-
phone and in travel to press customer ¯esh. turer, explaining the importance of anchor-
There is clearly such a thing as effective ing improvisations to clear plans notes:
®re®ghting, and much of that involves situa-
tion-speci®c expertise, skills, and trainingÐ To grow (sales) you have to have a
the bulk of which is ironically devoted to plan, you have to adhere to that plan,
preventing ®res in the ®rst place. In the and the plan has to be ¯exible
organizational strategy-related context, on enough to re¯ect change necessary
the other hand, the hallmarks of ®re®ghts to meet the marketing conditions,
are: (a) managers inordinately consumed and to meet objectives as other
by short-term effectiveness, and narrowly things change . . .. The key word is
focused on problems that should not have absolutely ``¯exible'' . . . where they
arisen or should have been solved already, (b) (plans) some times fall apart is that
high incidence of mindless, resource wasting, some people are trying to closely
low-ef®ciency reactiveness that all but pre- adhere to what the plan is, and they
cludes the development of a clear focus on the come across the ®rst obstacle that the
future, and (c) results too small, too few, and plan doesn't deal with, and all of a
too corrective (versus progressive) to justify sudden there is chaos. So there has to
the managerial time and energy spent. be ¯exibility within that plan to be
able to adjust to whatever that situa-
tion (may be). We ¯ex; we adapt.
Real-Time Spent Deploying,
Improvising and Adapting
It is important to note that while both are
We estimate that about half of all managerial responses to changing situations and envir-
time and energy is spent deploying accord- onments, clear differences exist between ®re-
ing to plan and simultaneously improvising ®ghts and improvisations in terms of their
and adapting to the changing reality. linkages to predetermined choices the results
Deployment and improvisation occur simul- they produce. Without clear objectives and
taneously because the environments man- coherent plans for resource deployment,
agers encounter evolve constantly. A vice- adaptive responses of managers are about
president of a defense subcontractor, and a as likely to build meaningful, sustaining,
maker of parts and subassemblies for missile value-creating and trust-building relation-
guidance systems, explains: ships with others (particularly customers)
as an uninitiated novice is to produce great
. . . Plans as written, if they always jazz music by merely plunking the keys on a
worked out the way they were writ- piano. All improvisation is not effective
ten, it would get boring . . .. Compa- improvisation. Highly effective managers,
nies that are successful are those that like effective jazz improvisers, adapt and
can allow the plan to grow, and be innovate on the ¯yÐbased on an incisive
¯exible, and to change with the feed- understanding of their instrument (their
back from the marketplace, or from skills and their organization) and their stra-
the people that are out there in the tegies (their objectives and resource deploy-
®eld. ment choices). Like jazz improvisers, they
SPRING 2002 345rely on high levels of ¯uency with their craft ences will change, their decisions re¯ect this
(i.e., their knowledge of the links between understanding before the market clearly
environmental changes, their decision-mak- exhibits such changes, and their team is pre-
ing and behavioral skills, and results). When pared and ready when those changes
improvisations lose connection with clear emerge. Time is forwarded when from the
objectives and resource deployment choices, din of seemingly chaotic changes in the
however, they begin to suspiciously resem- environment, managers spot a trend that
ble resource-wasting ®re®ghts. Problems can predict the immediate future, and then
arise when managers think they are impro- align people and resources in ways that
vising, but the results re¯ect ®re®ghts. To effectively engage the changing environ-
brie¯y summarize, therefore, improvisations ment. Fast-forwarding time preempts ®re-
differ meaningfully from ®re®ghts because ®ghts and knee-jerk responsiveness and
they: (a) are anchored to clear streams of allows managers greater control over the
thinking about objectives and resource process by which time is spent. In general,
deployment choices of the ®rm, (b) are managers who routinely fast-forward time
focused on the current and the future, versus are: (a) seldom being surprised and rarely
the past, and (c) produce sustaining results. overwhelmed by the day-to-day turn of
events in the ®rm and in the market, (b) enjoy
enthusiastic support of key internal (sales
Real-Time Spent Fast-
and support staff, other functional groups),
Forwarding Time
and external constituencies (market interme-
We estimate that a woefully small number of diaries), and (c) maintain high levels of ¯ex-
managers routinely fast-forward time, and in ibility in their organization, continually
general, less than 5% of managerial time is engage customers, and gain favored posi-
spent in this activity. Inspired by Wayne tions in the market despite the environmen-
Gretzky's play on ice, and based on the tal uncertainty and turbulence. Table 1
voices of highly effective managers we stu- provides a brief checklist of actions that seem
diedÐthose who are consistently able to to indicate involvement in fast-forwarding
define and accomplish bold agendasÐwe time and ®re®ghting.
derive the following definition of fast-
forwarding time:
HOW THEY DO THAT
Fast-forwarding time is about: (a)
predicting the immediate future, i.e., Scholars have found that managers capable of
spotting trends from their highly predicting future scenarios are intuitive, often
interactive environments and pre- possess considerable experience in their
dicting with a high degree of cer- fields, and can project the trajectories of past
tainty the future about to unfold, patterns into the future. This is true to a great
(b) positioning the ®rm, i.e., gaining extent about managers from whom we learn
unprecedented support from key about fast-forwarding time as well. There is
stakeholdersÐwho employ their more, however, to fast-forwarding time. This
energies and creativity to accomplish capability seems to emerge from managers'
the manager's day-to-day decisions, intimate understanding of the caroms and
despite the emergence of real and ricochets in their environment, and the sce-
conjectured impediments, and (c) narios they produce. Moreover, these man-
favorably in¯uencing outcomes of agers seem facile with the interactions in ways
implementation efforts. that allow them to position themselves ahead
of the changes that actually occur. We learn
For instance, time is fast-forwarded that this facility emerges in large part from
when managers know how customer prefer- their unrelenting commitment to: (a) listening,
346 ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICSTABLE 1 YOU ARE FIREFIGHTING OR FAST-FORWARDING TIME IF ...
YOU MAY BE EXCESSIVELY INVOLVED IN FIREFIGHTS IF ... YOU COULD BE FAST-FORWARDING TIME IF ...
Your average week consists of many surprises and/or inexplicable events. You are seldom surprised, and rarely engaged in desperate maneuvers.
You frequently experience deja vu all over again. New problems look
and feel amazingly like the ones you have solved in the past.
You are always busy. You spend an inordinate amount of time You are keenly aware of what the key people in your environment
(often on the phone) talking to people about what should be occurring, (internal and external) are thinking today. You can often detect minor,
and what they should be doing. subtle changes occurring in others' thinking, motivations, and behaviors.
You work hard and are always rushed for time. You find yourself constantly Your team understands what is expected of them, and routinely takes
rushing from one task to another. You think on your feet and enjoy being regarded risks and innovative actions to solve problems as they emerge without
as the problem-solver. Others also regard you as a hard-working person. always checking with you.
You feel you are indispensable. You feel that you are the important trouble-shooter You gain inordinately high levels of cooperation from your colleagues
in your firm, and find yourself frequently involved in damage control activities. across the organization.
You know many things about solving problems that others do not know. You possess You spend an inordinate amount of time sharing your expertise with
expertise about your organization's way of doing things that others do not possess. others so that they can do things as well as you do, and no longer need you.
SPRING 2002 347(b) building a network of interpersonal rela- . . . (Steve) Ballmer has been on a
tionships characterized by high levels of trust, quest. He's been walking the halls
and (c) strategic thinking skills. at Microsoft's headquarters in Red-
mond, Wash., . . .. A brilliant, wildly
energetic, table-pounding kind of
Listening
boss who for the previous six years
Effective managers can fast-forward time had run Microsoft's sales and mar-
because they listen and stay connected with keting, Ballmer has spent his time as
the key sources of uncertainty in their envir- president listening. He held one-on-
onment, i.e., other people. Effective man- one meetings with more than 100
agers know that human intelligence all but software engineers, product man-
trumps that which originates from sophisti- agers, vice presidents, and other
cated, computerized information systemsÐ employees, most for an hour or
when it comes to predicting the immediate more. His goal: to assess what the
behaviors of people. Hence, listening seems $14.5 billion a year giant is doing
to feature as the more important component right and, more important, what it
of the conversations they have with others. is doing wrong. (Fortune, April 26,
The importance of listening is heard in the 1999)
voices of industry leaders as well. For
instance, Joseph F. Walton, senior vice-pre- Second, managers in our study suggest
sident of global customer services for EMC that listening communicates the high levels
Corporation, has said: of trust and respect they intend to convey to
the people on whose energy and creativity
The best way to deal with problems they relyÐthe soft and fuzzy, yet critical,
is to listen for them before they hap- ingredient of productive, interdependent
pen. (Fast Company, June 2001) relationships. The listening signals their per-
sonal commitment and interest in making
We ®nd listening and fast-forwarding others believe they are valued contributors.
time linked for a variety of reasons. First, The vice-president of the CATV equipment
the listening allows managers to hear multi- manufacturer from our study describes the
ple voices and become aware of others' mul- importance of listening the following way:
tiple, subjective and often disjointed realities.
By listening, they come to understand how You listen. You make the individuals
others view the situation, and how others working for you feel that they actu-
de®ne their own behaviors in light of their ally are contributors. That's impor-
subjective interpretations of reality. Man- tant . . .. You have to listen to them,
agers come to understand the disparate you have to become friends with
intents and desires of relevant constituencies them.
within and outside the ®rm, and can translate
this understanding into improvisations that The notion of listening as a way of con-
produce results. Listening emerges as the veying respect to key players is voiced
immediate precursor to intelligent, informed by several industry leaders including Herb
action. Kelleher, one of the founders and later
The business press also notes the link CEO of Southwest Airlines Inc., who notes:
between listening and intelligent planning
and responsiveness. For instance, Steve Ball- I think showing respect for people's
mer's (President, Microsoft, Inc.) interest in ideas is very, very important because
listening to diverse voices as a critical input as soon as you stop doing that, you
to planning has been reported in the follow- stop getting ideas. We tell people that
ing way: if you need a suggestion box, then
348 ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICSyou're not doing what you should be tative processes in which other people
doing. You shouldn't have to inter- engage. It affords them the legitimacy of
pose the box between you and the participating and in¯uencing the subjective
people with the ideas. You ought to process by which others de®ne their situation
be talking to them on a regular basis. and choose appropriate ways of responding.
You ought to be with your people The trust that managers generate from their
enough that they are comfortable to social interaction largely determines the
just pop on in and give you their extent to which people will support their
ideas. (Fortune, May 28, 2001) initiatives, go out on a limb, improvise, inno-
vate and overcome when unexpected obsta-
cles arise.
Relationship and Trust
Leading scholars have spoken to the
A manager achieves complex organizational issue of trust in the network of interpersonal
objectives when others (including his or her relationships developed by managers, and of
own team members, plus key members of its importance in terms of getting work done.
other functional groups) commit to risky and For instance, Warren Bennis notes:
bold initiatives, and are willing to improvise
and innovate on the fly when confronted with (In a network of relationships) rank is
seemingly plausible obstacles as well as gen- unclear. We work in teams, which are
uine impediments. This occurs more often often interdepartmentalÐhierarchi-
when managers build a complex network of cal power can't guarantee that work
relationships characterized by trustÐthe gets done. Networks encourage peo-
social glue and a strong predictor of the ple to operate informally, with few
productivity and health of interdependent rules. They depend on trust. Few
relationships. Trust-building enables man- business people I meet are mysti®ed
agers to leverage their own talents, gain by power. Trust, on the other hand,
the emotional commitment of people focused baf¯es themÐyet it is more impor-
on their own personal, often divergent agen- tant. (Fortune, June 12, 2000)
das, and motivate innovative behaviors. The
sales manager of a custom engineering com-
ponent manufacturing firm from our study
Strategic Thinking
explains:
While listening connects managers to the
(The challenge of effective imple- sources of uncertainty, and trust building
mentation is) probably the excessive creates the social glue for interdependent
amount of things that have to be relationships, these skills are of little conse-
done by too few people working quence when their day-to-day and long-term
with too few physical resources. decisions emerge in the absence of strategic
You can't always get what you want thinking. The cognitive activities of strategic
the second you ask for it. You have to thinkers differ from firefighters' in many
negotiate and try to get people to meaningful ways. First, when called to make
®nd time to squeeze in something decisions, strategic thinkers identify multiple
special that you might ask for on courses of action rather than focusing on the
behalf of a customer. A lot of it is one that is immediately obvious. They eval-
interpersonal skills, just dealing with uate multiple alternatives using clear deci-
people here everyday with their sion-making criteria that allow the
cooperation and trust and respect. elimination of all but the most plausible,
equally compelling alternatives. They also
Additionally, we learn that high levels of identify and evaluate the first, second, and
trust allow managers access to the interpre- subsequent order consequences of the
SPRING 2002 349plausible alternatives, i.e., if I do A then B is I'm thinking through the scenarios of
likely to result, if B results then C is likely to the possibility of United Airlines and
result, and so on. Second, strategic thinkers American dividing US Airways, the
evaluate how different people and constitu- scenarios of American acquiring
encies such as customers, market intermedi- TWA. You have to think, ``Okay,
aries, team members, and other functional American's bought TWA: How's it
groups within the firm will interpret each of going to integrate it? . . . You have to
the plausible decision/action alternatives, do that sort of thing so you're pre-
draw meanings, and use these meanings to pared to go one way or the other way
define their own behaviors. They evaluate depending on what American does.
the extent to which each important constitu- You have to think that way all the
ency is likely to support their agenda, and the time. (Fortune, May 28, 2001, p. 70)
kind of improvisations and risk-taking each
constituency will display in the pursuit of
this agenda. They also evaluate the interac-
tions likely to occur between the constituen-
NEW THINKING ABOUT
cies, and how each is likely to influence the
FAST-FORWARDING TIME
other's behaviors, i.e., if A does X, then B is
likely to do Y, and identify alternative ways of There is nothing new in the notions that
drawing the meanings for the constituencies environments change, plans are altered, or
in order to gain their support. The marketing managers improvise. Almost the entire stra-
manager of an industrial pump manufac- tegic management literature has focused on
turer from our study explains: these issues. Despite the high levels of aware-
ness around issues of change and improvis-
You as an individual, ®rst you have ing, however, firefighting as the principal
to know what you are doing. You and easily the least effective response of
have to exude that kind of under- real-life managers has received less attention
standing; you have to be almost a than it deserves. There is much room for
sociologist, psychologist to be a good drawing inspiration from highly effective
marketer . . .. The sales person is an athletes who triumph in rapidly changing
interpreter and the enactment of a arenas and hyper-competitive environments,
concept, . . . marketer develops the and learning about fast-forwarding time.
road and the road signs, sales travels Despite proliferating insights on strategy,
the roads and follows the road signs implementation, effectiveness, and time
and gets somewhere. Marketers management, most real-life managers spend
don't travel, they create (scenarios). less time being strategic or tactical, and more
time hustling and firefighting. The practical
Recent writings in the popular press also problems associated with firefights cannot be
highlight the importance of strategic think- significantly alleviated, and the opportu-
ing. Describing his secret of success, Kelle- nities for fast-forwarding time cannot be
her, the recently retired chairman and CEO meaningfully harnessed, unless innovative
of Southwest Airlines, has said: ways of conceptualizing what managers do
clearly emerge. There are several implica-
The way I've always approached tions we draw from our findings that address
things is to be prepared for all pos- issues of firefights and fast-forwarding time,
sible scenarios of what might hap- and of improving managers' strategic effec-
pen. I usually come up with four or tiveness. At the outset, we highlight the
®ve different scenarios. I do this all important differences between managers
the time. I do it in the shower. I do it capable of fast-forwarding time and those
when I'm out drinking. Right now consumed by firefights (see Table 2).
350 ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICSTABLE 2 DIFFERENTIATING MANAGERS: FIREFIGHTS VERSUS FAST-FORWARD TIME
MANAGERS ENGAGED IN ENDEMIC FIREFIGHTS . . . MANAGERS ENGAGED IN FAST-FORWARDING TIME . . .
Are likely to tell interesting war stories, and possess a host of descriptive Are likely to possess descriptive insights, as well as knowledge about
insights about their environment; i.e., know what occurs, when and how. the complex linkages between events. They understand what occurs and
why.
Are heavily involved in solving problems created by unresponsive plans, Are heavily involved in assessing the nature and outcomes of the
poor organization of activities, and poor engagement of complex interactions between the firm's internal and external forces.
customersÐafter they have emerged.
Rely largely on their own personal abilities and skills, and on their freedom to Rely largely on the coordinated efforts of a large, complex network of
redirect their time and energies to solve problems after they have emerged. people with whom they have strong interpersonal relationships
characterized by high levels of trust.
Are highly focused on their own, and less aware or concerned about others' agendas. Are inordinately aware of the diverse, often conflicting agendas of the
constituencies in their environment, and reflect this understanding in
their day-to-day decision-making.
Demonstrate inadequately low levels of learning from past events, and seem Show high levels of interest in learning about why events occur the way
powerless to prevent fires from recurring. they do, and in predicting future scenarios to prevent fires.
Are often regarded by superiors' and colleagues' as hard working managers Are often perceived as idiosyncratic, lucky individuals with uncanny,
who are always on the ball. (Are likely to discount possibilities of adopting better inexplicable (often magical) innate talents by others. (Others are often
decision-making processes to reduce firefights, because of the strong conviction likely to discount the possibility that their abilities are learned and
in the notion that firefights are inevitable.) practiced, or that their abilities emerged from deeply ingrained
algorithms and metrics.)
They are more likely to emerge in organizations that reward actions over results. They are more likely to emerge in organizations in which managers
take personal ownership of long-term effectiveness (often by holding an
equity interest in the firm).
Ought to be educated, trained, or perhaps replaced. Ought to be provided opportunities for new learning and growth in
different areas of the organization, along with opportunities for greater
SPRING 2002 351
equity interest in the firm.Differentiating Visionaries and whom we learn about fast-forwarding time
Fast-Forwarding Time are visionaries as well. That, however, is
another discussion.
There are many similarities among managers
capable of fast-forwarding time, and those
Knowing What and Knowing
regarded as visionary managers in the litera-
Why
ture. Both operate from an in-depth knowl-
edge of past events. Both can identify the Many managers in our sample can tell inter-
logical connection between past conditions esting war stories, and provide a fair bit of
and emerging scenarios, and both can extend detail about what happens and when. Those
their thinking to the future. In both instances, who can fast-forward time, however, can
their ability to make predictions is learned explain why things occur the way they do.
versus innate, and deeply rooted in tacit Their causal insights emerge from their
algorithms and metrics. Hence, their learned implicit belief that the interactions among
abilities differ radically from the inexplic- key players and forces in their environment,
able, seemingly innate abilities that some more than the intrinsic natures of any factor
clairvoyants may claim to possess. per se, create their emerging reality.
There are, however, important differ- Causal insights seem critical because
ences among managers who can fast-for- sustaining high levels of effectiveness calls
ward time and those who are colloquially managers to rely on the energies and crea-
regarded as visionaries. First, fast-forward- tivity of people who often function outside
ing time is about predicting what occurs their zone of authority. Plans anchored in
tomorrow, the day after, and the day after descriptions of markets and what people
that. Visionary managers often extrapolate do, without much connection to why they
over longer periods of time. Second, fast- do what they do, seem to almost invariably
forwarding time is about predicting the relegate managers to the roles of ®re®ghters.
minutia and the subtleties in the short-term Simply put, when managers know and plan
behaviors of people (particularly custo- according to what is occurring, but not
mers), based on an intimate understanding according to why it is occurring in the ®rst
of the interactions among key forces in their place, most actions taken on a day-to-day
environment. Visionaries focus on larger, basis are hard to differentiate from shots in
general trends, and not as much on the the dark followed by knee-jerk responsive-
®ner details of the day-to-day interactions. ness. Without a Gretzkyesque understanding
Third, fast-forwarding time is about taking of the caroms and ricochets, there is not much
purposeful actions to create favorable out- for managers to do except chase the puck. In
comes. It is directly related to problem sol- the absence of causal insights, even the more
ving, achieving results, and moving ponderous managers interested in self-
the ®rm forward. This is not always true improvement are equipped to do little more
about visionaries. Many managers are than hone their talents for chasing the puck.
regarded as visionaries, even when the Managers from whom we learn about fast-
impact of their personal actions on all their forwarding time differ from others, because
predicted outcomes is less direct. Finally, they can explicitly differentiate between
we learn about fast-forwarding time descriptive knowledge and causal insights,
from front-line managers, and in the con- and ensure that their plans and actions are
text of implementing plans at functional, ®rmly rooted in both.
operational levels of the ®rm. Visionaries,
in most instances, are found in loftier mili-
Managerial Orientations
eus, somewhat removed from where the
rubber meets the proverbial pavement. It While few managers publicly advocate stop-
is possible that some of the managers from gap actions, there are clear differences
352 ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICSbetween those less and more tolerant of fire- find little incentive in seeking a cognitively
fights. Managers appear less likely to express richer basis for taking actions, or in thinking
dissatisfaction with their involvement in fire- about their personal efficiency and the
fights, and more likely to view them as focal, impact of their actions over the long term.
intrinsic, and unavoidable components of The culture and ethos of the organization
day-to-day management when: (a) poor that results from this order of priorities holds
planning and poor execution on their part that real men put out ®res and only earnest
serves as the chief cause of the firefights, and pre-adolescent boy scouts concern them-
(b) damage±control activities rely mostly on selves with ®re-prevention. Why very little
their own personal ability to stretch and real progress is made even when managers
redirect their time, creativity and energy. complain about overwork, and why ®re-
There is a clear segment of managers for ®ghts are necessary in the ®rst place, are
whom firefighting and knee-jerk responsive- rarely questioned, because putting out ®res
ness is the modus operendi of choice, and they is viewed as heroic, preventing them consid-
would like to keep it that way. erably less so.
Those more capable of fast-forwarding Fire®ghts are strangely reinforcing and
time exhibit several traits worth noting. First, addictive. They can leave managers with a
contrasting with others, they appear more heightened sense of their own personal effec-
aware of the interdependent web of relation- tiveness, and with a strong sense of accom-
ships in which they function, and more plishment, even when they say that ®re®ghts
aware of the ripples their actions can cause are time- and resource-wasting activities.
in their ecosystem. Second, they appear to Moreover, ®re®ghts are undeniably self-ser-
take personal ownership of the implementa- ving and self-reinforcingЮre®ghts beget
tion process and its outcomes. It is likely that ®re®ghts. They eventually create a culture
the equity interest held by those from whom in which ®re®ghters are viewed not so much
we learn the most about fast-forwarding as overwhelmed managers in a breathless
time, and their emotional commitment to pursuit of the puck, but as valued pro-
the ®rm's long-term effectiveness, create a blem-solvers and trouble-shooters. While
sense of concern for ef®ciency that overrides ®re®ghts will occur in all organizations,
the concern for appearing busy. Third, they knee-jerk responsiveness is likely to stay a
appear more likely to empower subordinates dominant feature of how things get done as
and try to work themselves out of a job, long as ®re®ghters have appreciative audi-
contrasting with the chronic ®re®ghters ences and organizational rewards.
who tend to hoard information and view
themselves as indispensable.
Challenges for Future Thinking
Much in the current way of thinking about
Organizational Priorities
strategy-related behaviors of managers pre-
Although it is hard to conceptualize the real vents practical insights from emerging. For
world of marketing and management devoid instance, the current way of thinking about
of managers involved in firefights, the behaviors of firms and managers is too
impact of their personal, often unyielding strongly tethered to the strategy-tactics
interest in creating an impression to obser- dichotomy, i.e., that which is not strategic
vers that they are doing something about the is regarded as tactical. This dichotomous
situation is hard to ignore. Firefights occur in view almost entirely precludes the concern
large part because they are organizationally for activities that take up the bulk of manage-
valued, and worse yet, highly rewarded. The rial timeÐtime spent being neither strategi-
socially learned charade of appearing busy cally nor tactically, but in knee-jerk
chasing the puck is so exhilarating, and so responsiveness. It also precludes concern
organizationally rewarded, that managers for the day-to-day interactions, the hustle
SPRING 2002 353and the firefights that can create radically environment so that they can predict the one
different trajectories in practice for two man- scenario from a potentially infinite set of out-
agers who otherwise aim to follow similar comes that will actually emerge, and develop
strategies and objectives. strategies that will effectively engage custo-
Rethinking the merits of prevalent voca- mers in that scenario. True mastery over the
bularies in the management literature and interactions occurring in the marketplace is so
the usefulness of current dichotomies and rare that it is not surprising to find managers
metaphors seems necessary for fresh insights more challenged by implementation than by
to emerge. The view of ®re®ghts as aberrant, planning, or to find a formidable gap between
avoidable behaviors may not easily emerge what a firm intends and what it actually
when current conceptualizations are rich accomplishes in the marketplace. There are,
with macho, military metaphors such as however, the Gretzkys among managers from
strategy, tactics, and warfare. Management whom much can be learned about the differ-
literature could stand an infusion of new ences between chasing and positioning the
nomenclature and metaphors, some bor- firm ahead of the puck.
rowed from highly effective athletes, that Effective managers seem far more inter-
can provide innovative and creative ways ested in imposing their dreams on reality,
of conceptualizing what managers really and imposing their agendas on the market-
do. But for the consistency with which highly place than in operating as pawns of the
effective managers produce quality results highly interactive market forces. While they
against formidable odds, observers operat- believe in planning, they are clear about its
ing from unsophisticated frames of reference limitations and are committed to unrelenting
and limited by dated vocabularies and meta- improvisation. They are able to anchor their
phors are apt to label them as plain lucky. improvisations on a ®rm understanding of
why people and the market behave the way
they do. They also seem notably more ¯uent
with the caroms and ricochets in the market-
SUMMARY AND
place, and are capable of positioning them-
CONCLUSIONS
selves in ways that are consistently effective.
The inherent complexity of modern manage- Their knowledge of not just what occurs but
ment, and the frequency and magnitude of why, their high levels of connection with the
interactions managers are called to engage in, people in their social environment, and their
make management analogous to a fast-paced strategic thinking appears to lie at the root of
hockey gameÐand not only because consis- their ability to fast-forward time.
tently winning in this scenario is the stuff of
legendary managers. The task of planning
and implementation calls for managers to
develop high levels of fluency with their
354 ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICSSELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
The notion that emerging reality results from See H. Mintzberg, The Nature of Manage-
intense interactions among environmental rial Work (New York: Harper & Row, 1973)
forces and the firm was proposed by Hrebi- for pioneering descriptions on what man-
niak and Joyce, and is generally accepted as agers really do.
an accurate descriptor. See L. G. Hrebiniak Issues of environmental scanning, clo-
and W. F. Joyce, ``Organizational Adapta- sely related to issues of listening, are very
tion: Strategic Choice and Environmental well discussed in D.C. Hambrick, ``Environ-
Determinism,'' Administrative Science Quar- ment, Strategy, and Power Within Top Man-
terly, 1985, 30(3), 336±349. agement Teams,'' Administrative Science
For useful and interesting insights about Quarterly, 1981, 26, 253±276.
the use of time, please see: A. Bluedorn, The citation from Wayne Gretzky is
``Primary Rhythms, Information Processing, found in J. Stein, ``Goodbye, Great One,''
and Planning: Toward a Strategic Temporal Time, April 26, 1999. The citation from Herb
Technology,'' Technology Studies, 1997, 4(1), Kelleher is found in K. Booker, ``The Chair-
1±36; P. Clark, ``A Review of the Theories of man of the Board Looks Back,'' Fortune, May
Time and Structure for Organizational 28, 2001, 70. The citation from Joseph Wal-
Sociology,'' Research in the Sociology of Orga- ton is found in Fast Company, June 2001, 142.
nizations, 1985, 4, 35±79; C. J. Gersick, ``Pacing The citation describing Steve Ballmer is
Strategic Change: The Case of a New Ven- found in E. Nee, ``Microsoft Gets Ready to
ture,'' Academy of Management Journal, 1994, Play a New Game,'' Fortune, April 26, 1999,
37, 9±45; and H. A. Simon, ``Making Manage- 106. The citation from Warren Bennis is
ment Decisions: The Role of Intuition and found in T. Steward, ``Whom Can You
Emotion,'' Academy of Management Executive, Trust? It's not so Easy to Tell,'' Fortune, June
1987, 1(February), 57±64. 12, 2000, 331±334.
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