This is a note for all managers, leaders or business owners who are faced with a big decision. It is inspired by a recent article I read about Kevin Roberts who is the Global Chief Executive of the ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi (Australian Financial Review 18/5/09, pg 43).

Kevin has a three day rule for his key managers:

Any manager that has a key problem must get it to him within 24 hours.

He guarantees to make a decision within 24 hours then they have 24 hours to execute the solution.

Kevin observes that this three day rule, ‘gives our people a great sense of liberation and a sense of massive speed.’

There are many things to admire about this concept. In a time-poor, speed driven world, important decisions can be made quickly. Particularly in a service business there can be no bottle necks. It is also a very effective way of having the CEO to stay involved in the pulse of the business and cut-through the many layers between the client and the CEO.

My only problem with this approach is that it is very Kevin Roberts centric. What is Kevin gets run over by a bus or moves on. I think it is better to build an organizational-wide, speed-decision capability rather than it revolving around one key individual.

What do you think?

Ken Hudson