Bob Van Rossum October 22, 2021 Every leader has a way of making sure their team is effective, efficient, and happy. Recently, a leadership style popularized by Amazon has struck the attention of marketing executive search consultants. It’s called single-threaded leadership.
This concept sprouted as a way to make sure that all-important projects had a strong leader who is solely focused on that one task. Jeff Bezos wanted to make sure the leader was able to put all of their energy into building, nurturing, and expanding that particular project.
In theory, single-threaded leadership sounds great but does it work? The answer is it can. Amazon is a good example. As the leading marketing executive search firm, MarketPro has looked deeper into the method to understand how it can achieve great results.
Single-Threaded Leadership: Here Is What Marketing Executive Search Consultants Learned
Multitasking
The debate about multitasking has been ongoing for many years. Some will say it helps you get a lot more done. Others will argue the quality of work and the time it takes to achieve it will take longer. Everyone has their own point of view.
According to research, multitasking can cause a reduction in productivity by as much as 40%. The quick shift in focus and attention can make it difficult to tune out distractions and impair your cognitive abilities. Knowing this, Amazon has reduced the need to multitask within their work environment.
In single-threaded leadership, an “ownership” mentality takes center stage as the executive is focused truly on one major initiative. Since the leader will bear full responsibility for the effort they put in as well as the outcome, the temptation to stray from the project at hand is reduced.
“The best way to fail at inventing something is to make it someone’s part-time job.” – Dave Limp, Amazon SVP of devices.
Dependencies
In the past year, marketing executive search consultants have seen a lot of changes within most companies. With those changes, come multiple layers of approvals and dependencies on other departments and external resources. For single-threaded leadership to work effectively, choose projects where the leader:
- Has authority and autonomy in making decisions
- Has minimal external elements to control
Then break down the remaining barriers and give these single-threaded leaders the power to oversee all components of the project to increase quality results and eliminate deficiencies.
Leadership
While it is great to give your leader ownership of their project, there is one main factor that makes single-threaded leadership effective. That factor is having the RIGHT leader. When you combine highly skilled and high-performing marketers with the right leadership, the results are significantly more rewarding.
Finding the right leader, however, is never easy. Many moving parts go into the search and interviewing process. How are you assessing cultural fit? Have you considered implementing tests into the interview process? What kind of skills and experience should the right candidate possess?
If you’re a marketing leader, you most likely know the kind of executive you need to bring in to push enterprise-wide change. But if you’re a CEO or other senior-level executive who has not previously worked in marketing leadership, it can be quite difficult to truly understand what’s needed in a promising marketing executive.
To minimize the risk of hiring a subpar marketing leader, you need an executive search team that has specialized marketing experience and knowledge about the best recruiting strategies. Only then are you in the best position to recruit the right marketing leader for your business.
Conclusion
Not all companies have the luxury of assigning one member to one task. Budget restrictions or time can be challenging. Despite this, the one thing you should take away from Amazon’s single-threaded leadership approach is making sure you know which projects have the potential for a larger impact and having the right executive lead the team.
Here are some of the questions you should be asking as executives. What vision do I have for the company’s future? Which project is most important to the organization? Do I have a strong team? Is there a clear leader? What are each member’s responsibilities? Does the leader have control of all the elements needed to achieve the intended results?
Having the right leader, who has all the resources to own the project and can control each component of the task, will achieve greater results.
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