Stop the presses. The CEO of Ideal, David, has officially resigned his position.

I was already generating options for my future a la goal mapping, but this changes the dynamic.

What I know is that he was ousted through some political machinations by Jesper.

The rumor is that there will be a new CEO. I haven’t spoken about this guy before, his name is Brice and he was brought into the parent company a couple months ago to start a new product line. He’s the CEO type, but I also think Jesper is too close to him.

That means that whereas David knew he hired me to shape the development group into a semi-autonomous team of professionals, Jesper wants no such thing, and there’s no reason to expect that Brice will want it either.

I think this calls for drastic action. I’m going to explore a couple options over the weekend, and yes, polish my resume — when I’m in position next week, I plan to talk to Jesper. I’ll impress upon him the importance of my role, and ask him for the technical reigns of the company. Along with those reigns, I’ll ask for a substantial raise, and an independent budget for my department. That may seem an odd or over-aggressive move, but here’s why I want each of those things:

1. Control. It is absolutely essential that Ideal has an organized and professional development team if we want the company to grow. We are at the threshold over which we will begin to lose substantial customers if we do not tighten the ship. Without this change in leadership, it is impossible to reach my goals at Ideal.
2. Raise. People value what they pay for. The raise will mark a change in Jesper’s perception of my role and authority. I’m not talking about a 5% raise — I’m talking about perhaps doubling my salary. Without this change in perception, Jesper is free to pay lip service to whatever demands I make. This will force him to put his money where his mouth is, which is a powerful psychological tool.
3. Autonomous Budget. Even if I’m nominally in charge of the development team and negotiate successfully for a large raise, I will be hamstrung without resources to execute my vision as a leader. With a separate, semi-autonomous budget over which I have full control without regard to Jesper, I will be able to make important decisions about the future of the team. For example, I might choose to move the team to a separate office, or to invest in a certain technology — as long as it falls within my budget, it will be my decision to make.

These are all essential prerequisites to success at Ideal, so as aggressive as they are, anything less would be worthless. It’s worth noting that I expect Jesper to say no to all my demands, and to never grow Ideal to the company that it could become.

I’ll post again to describe my plan to get leverage over him before I go to negotiate.

Ps. I failed to follow my own advice. Lesson 5 of the Fast Track series: Always be Looking. I haven’t shot a resume out since I started here, and now it’s put me in a weaker position. Shame on me!