CHAPTER 1
The Complexity Monster
Anthony1 was having an SOS moment. A likable and seasoned executive, who worked for a large defense firm, Anthony found himself in a precarious spot. His multibillion-dollar military program was not only over budget but also behind schedule, and his customers were beyond livid.
Of the potential performance incentives in the contract, he was receiving exactly none. That is right; zero percent. Things had not been going well for more than a year, and the government was threatening to shut him and his project down, potentially costing billions of dollars in revenue and more than one hundred million dollars in profits for his parent company.
Stressed out, Anthony faced mounting pressure from his bosses and felt micromanaged by his customers. It became increasingly apparent that Anthony’s program was in serious need of a rebirth.
The worst day was when Anthony, his bosses, and his entire leadership team were summoned to the Pentagon. Their chief customer, the general, after a stern thirty-minute lecture, exclaimed, “I need to know you care about this program as much as I do. I need to see this mission coursing through every vein in your body—day in and day out—before I can trust you again!” That’s precisely when Anthony experienced what we call an SOS moment.
In 1906, SOS was adopted as the international Morse Code distress signal and is represented by three dots (forS), then three dashes (forO), followed by another three dots. Although not formally an acronym, SOS in popular usage refers toSave Our Ship orSave Our Souls, among others.
An SOS moment is a specific instant of keen awareness (understatement coming) that something is fundamentallynot as it should be.
The next day, Anthony and his bosses asked for assistance from my strategic change management firm. Our team is dedicated to helping companies face these situations, slice through complexity, and forge a path and a plan to accelerate results.
