Ep 15 - Rob Drynan
"My Client's the Company": Rob Drynan on Leading For the Greater Good of the Organization
Key takeaways
For Rob Drynan, experience doesn't remove self-doubt, and blaming the client is a cop out.
Your job is to call out the thing, even when politeness pulls you the other way.
Name the company as your client, in writing, before the first hard question.
Aim for one big win per session instead of checking every box.
Admit a weakness early so the room feels safe enough to hear direct feedback.
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The Idea
The line at the top of the board.
Experience hasn't made the job feel easier for Rob. "The more sessions I've done, the more inadequate I feel," he said. "It never goes away." Once a few clients have blown it out of the water, every client who doesn't starts to feel like your fault. He won't let himself off the hook either: "it's a cop out to blame it on the client."
A meeting with Mark O'Donnell last winter named what to work on. If you're not pushing a team hard and calling out the thing, Mark told him, you're not doing your job.
That landed on a real weakness. "I'm Canadian, so we're used to being polite," Rob quipped. His worry in the session room was never getting fired. It was offending people or alienating them. The sentence he now holds himself to: "it's not my job to be polite, it's my job to be direct."
Saying that on a podcast is one thing. On a Focus Day, in front of seven new people, with no idea of the history in the room, it's much harder. So Rob built himself a device. At the start of every session, he writes "for the greater good of the organization" at the top of the board, and he tells the team who he actually works for.
"My client's the company, my client's not the Visionary, the Integrator, my client's the company, and so everything I'm gonna do here is for the health of the company, and that enables me to be a bit more prickly maybe than I normally would be."
The line does two jobs. It tells the leadership team, before anything uncomfortable happens, that a hard question isn't personal. And it gives Rob a reason to ask that's bigger than his own comfort. When the Visionary starts explaining to everybody how everything's gonna go, pushing back becomes service to the company everyone in the room is there to build.
He carries a second reframe in with him: "this is not about me." Instead of checking every box, he aims for one big thing per session, which means his directness gets spent on what matters most that day.
Rob's permission to be direct doesn't come from confidence. He set it up before the session started, in writing, where everyone could see it.
The Steal
Set the terms for directness before you need them
Before the session, decide who your client is and put it where the room can see it. Rob writes "for the greater good of the organization," but the exact wording matters less than what it commits you to: the company comes before any one person at the table, including the one who signed the agreement. Use words that sound like you, because you'll be pointing back to them later.
Say it out loud during check-in and spell out what it means for the day. When a question feels uncomfortable, it's being asked on behalf of the company, not aimed at anyone in particular. Getting the team to nod along at 8am is what makes the hard moment at 2pm feel fair rather than personal.
Pair it with something that shows you're not above the room. Rob opens by admitting his handwriting is terrible and invites the team to put it on the Issues List. Pick something true about yourself that the team can laugh at or hold you to.
Then use it. The first time you catch yourself softening a question to keep someone comfortable, point back to the line and ask the question the way you meant it. The line only earns its place on the board if the team sees you act on it before lunch.
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