Pattern Detection

Back in the day my team supported an EVP of a business unit. This person had virtually no interest in us whatsoever. Oh, he enjoyed putting us through our paces ... the re-work ... the claiming that we never produced documents for him.

Once was what it was. The second time it happened you wondered what was going on? The third time? This was a pattern. And once you establish a pattern, it's up to you to figure out what to do about the pattern.

My team cleared our plans with the SVP of Marketing and the CEO. We didn't even share the plans with the EVP in charge of his own business until "his boss" approved the plan we authored.

Now this didn't go over well with the EVP of the business unit.

But it saved my team a lot of re-work.

And the performance of his business improved. Ultimately nobody cared that we cut the actual owner of the business unit out of the plans for his business, as long as we delivered acceptable business results.

If you want to be a Leader in business, you'll have to become good at detecting patterns. Customer patterns, website usage patterns, Executive Management patterns, they all become important as your career progresses. Start practicing this skill right now.