Pattern 1.13

The Overmighty Patron

One person controls the money, or the route to it, and the organization’s strategy moves whenever their attention does.

In This Context

A patron can be a single individual: a billionaire owner, or a founder who raised the investors’ money and through whom their support runs. Such a patron can make almost any decision they like, whatever customers want. The org chart may show a conventional leadership team, but on the influence layer almost every line leads to one person. Planning is very difficult, because the organization’s focus shifts with theirs, and work started under one enthusiasm is abandoned for the next.

The patron’s power doesn’t depend on the formal structure.
Nobody else can reach the source of the money.

Therefore

Recognize that the levers in this book may not move while that patron is in place, and decide what you will do about it (Recognize the Unwinnable System).

Consequently

You stop planning against a strategy that won’t hold.
But left alone, strategy shifts whenever that person’s focus shifts, making it hard to plan.
But the realistic options may be to wait for the patron to change, or to leave.

Seen In

Chapter 12, sidebar “War Story: When the CEO Left the Room”, Chapter 2, “Patrons”.