Top executives sometimes make stupid decisions. The goal of any support group is either to help prevent those decisions, or to quickly point to the adverse impacts to the decisions so they can be reversed before causing terminal damage to a company. You can’t do either without solid — and often real-time — metrics because you’re seldom brought in before a bad decision has been made.
After the fact, you must instead create and present a compelling argument to limit the damage.
My bad approach to a problem
Years ago, when I worked for IBM, I was given the chance to meet with the head of my division and speak candidly. The rule was I could not be held accountable for anything I said. (I expect that policy was revisited after my meeting, because the first words out of my mouth were: “Are you a complete idiot?”) I had just joined the Internal Audit division, but before that I was running sales compensation — and I have a degree in a related field. So I knew how commissions worked, and knew the division head had just effectively killed the division.
