5 Classic Dumb Executive Moves

By Steve Tobak

July 24th, 2009 @ 2:25 pm

Folks really seemed to get a lot out of 5 Classic Boardroom Mistakes, so I thought I'd up the ante with these idiotic executive moves. And you know what's really special about these particular mistakes? I made them. 

That's right; you too can make idiotic mistakes and still become a successful executive. So why air my own dirty laundry? A few reasons:

5 Classic Dumb Executive Moves:

• After National Semiconductor acquired Cyrix, National's CEO - Brian Halla - introduced me as the new VP of corporate marketing (same job I had at Cyrix) at a companywide quarterly meeting. It would have been a nice gesture … had I actually been there. Not realizing what a big deal it was, I skipped the meeting to get some work done. Bad idea.

• Way back when, before sexual harassment litigation was a big thing, after-hours at a tradeshow in Atlanta, I and a few other executives of a public company took a couple of our female employees - at their request, I may add - to a gentlemen's club. No harm was done and we all had a good time, but what the hell we were thinking?

• As CEO of a startup during the tech bubble, while pitching a prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist to raise some funds, I gripped a mechanical sample of a silicon device too tightly and it shattered in my hands. Reliability was supposed to be a key selling point of the technology. We didn't get the money.

• Back in the day, before we used computers to give presentations, we used transparencies on overhead projectors. I was sitting in a relatively high-level customer meeting, waiting for the sales manager to finish his introductions, when I realized that I - the featured speaker - had forgotten to bring my transparencies. Talk about embarrassing. 

• Ten years ago, when you edited a file somebody sent you as a Lotus email attachment, forget to save it to a local disk and shut down your PC, you lost the changes. Well, I had worked on an important pitch for days, thinking I was saving it when I wasn't. When I rebooted my computer, I lost the entire pitch and had to stay up all night recreating it. Years later there was an episode of Friends where that happened to Ross.  

Okay, I came clean; now it's your turn. What incredibly stupid things have you done at work? You even get to do it anonymously!

I am currently reading the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. It is very inspiring to read about a man with very little education who accomplished so many things.

Today is election day and because this election is so important, I felt inspired to reflect upon Benjamin Franklin and the principles that that made this cou ntry what it is today before I went to the poles.

Do not forget to get out and vote.

May the best man win!

Have a great election day and God bless America.

Women Don't Ask: Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever, 2007, Bantam Books.

Ask for it: Linda Babcok and Sara Laschever, 2008, Bantam Books.

Overcoming the Superwoman Syndrome:  Edited by Linda Ellis Eastman, 2007, Professional Woman Publishing.

Women's Survival Guide for Overcoming Obstacles, Transition & Change, Edited by Linda Ellis Eastman, 2007, Professional Woman Publishing.

Good in a Room, Stephanie Palmer, 2008, Doubleday.

Basic Black, Cathie Black, 2007, Crown Publishing Group.

The Three Signs of a Miserable Job, Patrick Lencioni, 2007, Jossey-Bass.

The Gift of Change, Marianne Williamson, 2004, HarperCollins.

The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein, 2008, Bright White Light, LLC. (As described from a dog's point of view.)