When he achieved ‘flag rank’ (rank of Admiral), the current head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullin got some advice he never forgot. 

“This is the last time people around you will tell you the truth, Mike,” a friend told him.

And indeed it was. Who bears bad tidings to someone who can influence your career?

Since then Mullin has determinedly visited the field, spoken to soldiers and sailors, and learned first hand, for himself, what is going on!

Senior managers can learn from Mullin and his travels. On a recent trip I stood in a queue with a young software engineer from Motorola. In just 10 minutes he gave me a full, perfect and logical diagnosis of what ails Motorola, and how he thinks it can be fixed. This great company has been in decline for years. Do its leaders talk to their people? Do they listen?  If so, why have they not taken drastic action sooner? Where is the CEO of Motorola? And, for that matter, where were the CEO’s of GM, Chrysler, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Bear Stearns….? In their offices? Or out in the field, talking to customers.

Guy Kawasaki, the legendary marketing guru for Macintosh, relates that he hates to see managers sitting in their offices, or for that matter, those who report to them. They should be out in the field, in the marketplace, talking to line workers, talking to sales personnel, talking especially to customers….to know what is going on, and then, to act on it. 

In these troubled times, it is particularly urgent to keep a hand on the pulse of the rank and file in the organization, to talk to everyone down to the mail clerk, and especially to talk to customers and ordinary people, to sense the massive changes occurring in preferences and in business paradigms. You cannot do this from your office. Pack your bag. Lock your office. Take along some clean shirts and underwear. Hit the road. When you know more clearly what in the world is going on — come home. And then …act!