Today's high technology companies are judged by their ability to provide the best products and services to their customers in a timely manner. Important as all of this information is, its ultimate value is determined by executives' ability to make use of it in conversation. Very little happens in an organization or a market without conversation first taking place. The effectiveness and efficiency of executive conversation determines in large part how successful a company can be.
Companies have conversation problems.
Many executives quickly achieve high levels and therefore are not seasoned to the extent they should be for the responsibility they must exercise. Some have moved up the organization's technical ladder and have not developed the communications skills needed for executive positions. Most executives spend more and more of their time in meetings and they often complain bitterly about it. Meetings they attend often fail to close on issues, achieve consensus on direction, make agreements that get kept, get issues clear, and achieve the results that everyone is looking for. Even while sitting, frustrated, in these meetings, they realize that something is not right, but they don't know what to do about it.