The Elevator Pitch Is Dead

Everything in business is moving faster. Month by month, day by day, minute by minute - change keeps coming.

Corporations have an addiction to old processes and adages that are slowly killing their organizations.

For years, employees have complained about meetings which "could have been an email".

Since COVID sent most people home to work remote, there have been fights over return-to-office policies (Newsflash...Many people have worked outside the office since long before the pandemic).

I've seen companies institute policies, only to revoke them 60 days later. I've coached senior leaders who can't seem to understand why their people "just don't get it", when it is their own behavior that is fueling the fire. Board rooms want to pretend they are visionary, when in fact they are terrified to tell the truth on the next earnings call.

In truth, many directors, VPs and C-suite leaders think they are being helpful for providing support to their people, when in fact it is only the "support" they wished they had found earlier in their own careers - in a time when interoffice mail was the norm for moving files and information, news came from today's copy of the Wall Street Journal, or phone calls only happened in the office.

Organizations are simply addicted to running a modern organization with a toolbox handed down from the previous generation of leaders, most of whom have long since retired.

Too many "meetings" are nothing more than getting together to read Powerpoint decks to each other. [You know everyone can just upload that deck to AI and have it literally have a summary written and read to them while they are doing something else, right?]

Think for a minute about how many people in your organization continue to work remote (even a couple of days per week). Talk to members of most generations younger than Gen X, and they will tell you they'd rather have you text them a question so they can consider their response BEFORE offering their perspective. Consider how many contractors, third-party vendors and AI solutions are changing the way work really is getting done.

It is time to say goodbye to the "Elevator Pitch".

While it was a catchy phrase and a clever concept, I do not know anyone who ever really used one to advance a cause or solve any real problems.

With today's widespread availability of AI resources; capable, adaptive workers; and demands for hyper-short-term results, asking someone to try to "pitch me" in the time it takes to ride an elevator is no-longer realistic.

That brings us to the coffee cup credo.

In a world of memes that need no explanation to tell a story in one frame, conversations completely had in emojis, and a time when even a 24 hour news cycle feels slow, let's try answering "what now" on the back of a coffee mug.

Hire the right people. Let them lead with action. Focus on the outcome. And for all things holy, please stop asking for everything to be asked for by writing a business case supported by a slide deck nobody will look at...ever.

The business need will assuredly shift again before the project is complete anyway...at least, if your organization is still relevant.

_________________________

Scott Cooksey is the founder and Chief Leadership Advisor of Leadout Performance Group.