As you go higher up, the competition intensifies and to reach “the top” is gonna be truly tough. You may have multiple bosses to please, you have to manage some intricate network of relationships, people always judge you and its not always fair. You may be rising happily within an Organization for two decades and on a not so fine a day, you are backstabbed and ousted. Everything is possible.
At this point it is also not enough to be smart, hard-working and result oriented, because your competition would also possess these attributes. So it’s something like “What got you here, won’t get you there”. There’s a fundamental change in the game. You need to know when to take a shot at your rivals and when to react gracefully and importantly how to handle the many new influences on your trajectory.
Attitude, Risk and Luck:
Three things you’d need for this combat – The right attitude, a willingness to take calculated risks, and dumb luck.
Lets get to the Attitude part- Be the boss within. Feel like one, think like one. How do you do it?
1. Study, study and study. Study to the extent that you get a new dimension or perspective to the discussion. Ask questions about that dimension and you suddenly become the most valuable person in the room.
Eg. “ David once learned that his company was planning to invest in a joint venture with the Colombian govt. During the meeting, he asked “what happens to our investment if the guerillas destabilize the government or a civil war breaks out?”
A crucial perspective but ignored till then. The CEO was suddenly looking onto David for answers and he became the most valuable person in the room.
2. Keep your personal life, personal and do not embarrass yourself in public (avoid having a martini at a company event)
3. Get in a sense of humor.
Risk: Higher management is all about handling risks intelligently and in a calculated manner. Here, Risk is the name of the game.
“Every project in the world has a father or mother who decided to take the risk. AND Organizational memory is very sharp on this point as to who took that risk”
At the same time, the key is taking the risk in a calculated manner. It’s very dangerous not to be able to see the downside of something. You must know and see a project that you may want to kill. It’s like the stop-loss concept of the equity markets. Know when to exit and be bold about it.
Luck: After doing all the right things, one still needs the luck to get what you want. There will be times, when Luck is not by your side. So what can one do about it? There’s no real solution for this but the author believes that you can make your luck (at least partly).
In this context the author gives some tips to improve your luck.
If you are passed over for a promotion, think about trying a new instrument, like getting assigned to task forces across disciplines. Get exposure to different disciplines. Contribute in new ways. And to close this case for luck one very important closing point- Its critical to be at the right place. You stay too long at a place too rich in your skills, and you are giving a tough time for your luck to make you lucky. Whatever you may do, you stand a great chance of being neglected. So move on from such a place and find the right one.
Bosses: Make sure that you understand your boss’ goal (immediate goal and beyond that). It also helps to identify with your boss’ risk appetite. If he’s for safe play, then in all respect he’s gonna reward safe players over you. And assure your boss that you are loyal to him and discreet. It’s important to be the most trusted person in the boss’s stable. At the same time, you can tell him your needs and assure him your loyalty as long as he gives you the push you need. It’s ok to say “I’ll help you reach your own goals, but you have to do something for me, which is to push me along”.
Be the most trusted person but let him not get too dependable on you that will let him not leave you anywhere to explore.
Get into the right meetings: It is necessary for you to attend the right meetings. Whoever the powers are in your org. getting exposure to them is important.
In these meetings, if you’re able to answer questions that your boss may not know answers to- you have made yourself visible and your boss wouldn’t mind taking the credit for hiring a real smart person, like you.
Some other tips about your survival and your journey to the centre of the boardroom.
Tip 1: Don’t just hitch yourself with just one person. He may have a very short life span. Hitch yourself with as many people as you can.
Tip 2: Pay attention to the meetings you attend and try to understand the dynamics between your boss and the CEO/CXO. If from the body language you find some indifference or tension, it’s a signal that you are perhaps not under the best boss.
PEERS:
Beware the consigliore (some really trusted people of your bosses and have unfettered access to your bosses). They can do a lot of harm behind your back. There are ways to tackle them. 1) Identify the possible consigliore and feed them with wrong and different information. So, depending on the info. That reaches your boss, you know the actual culprit. You may then further tackle this by constantly proving the info. Provided by the consigliore to be wrong. At the same time, once you know whom the consigliore is, you may deal with him in such a way that he passes on good inputs about you and that can really work for your advantage.
You will have enemies and they will be underhanded. What you really have to defend against are the water cooler campaigns (rumors about you). The really shrewd enemies will try to weave a theme using a series of stories about you.
You will have to tackle this wisely. If the rumor is a lie, calmly make the facts known. Also expose as little of your personal life as possible. Keep people who will not hesitate to give you candid feedback.
RIVALS:
The people above you are watching how you behave with your rivals. The top management wants to know how you tackle your rivals. It’s important to be an incremental player. Build your reputation steadily and dimensionally.
It’s good to know you rival’s weaknesses and it’s better when you show the world how you do not have the same weakness and how you can handle such situations better. In this book, David mentions of a case where the employee was an alcoholic and his rival decided to fire him whereas David gave the employee a helping hand and even sent him to a rehabilitation center at company’s expense, because the employee was a valued asset to the company, nevertheless keeping his bosses apprised of the case on a regular basis. This differentiation gives you the edge over your rival.
Ask your Rivals, pointed questions in meetings. They can disconcert your rival and will help you understand his weaknesses. “With one sharp, pertinent question you can raise the bar for your rival, open up a new line of inquiry that he will now have to face persistently’”
Organizational etiquette can be foolish at times; you should risk breaking it once in a while.
Appreciate your rival in front of the management if he has done a brilliant job.
If you have to shoot your rival, kill him- don’t leave him wounded and if you lose to your rival, leave the place or department or whatever. It’s not easy to work under your rivals.
The Team You build: I will not delve into this. I shall rather give it in a few points the gist of this chapter
a) Pick your own team
b) Be deliberate about bringing in outsiders
c) Hire people who are unlike yourself
d) Don’t be a bigot
e) Avoid hiring people who are mirthless
f) Beware of Yes- men
g) When it comes to Layoffs, some flexibility is only right.
The people you have to Motivate:
Respect their years of experience. Mere resentment will set in if you pretend to understand in a few weeks what they have spent half a lifetime learning.
When in doubt, simplify the issues, stay out of the details, and make sure your experts know that you will hold them accountable for the outcome.
Encourage your people to bring bad news to you individually so that they are not ashamed in public or not bring in the news at the right time for fear of ridicule.
Remove the blood clots mercilessly. Blood clots are the people who try to hinder your initiatives, rebel against your decisions, cut you out of the decision-making etc
As you move higher up. You will need to keep your door ajar (keeping em’ completely open will invite too many ppl unnecessarily and a lot of time waste). You cannot afford to listen to your employees pouring their heart out but at the same time, it’s not good to have an idea of their personal lives (whether or not they have kids and if so, how many etc)
“Loyalty is about gratitude, not Patriotism.” You build loyalty by helping each member of your team, individually, get where they want to go”
eg: You really need the services of an employee for 2 more years, but he’s now leaving the org. It really helps for you to know that all he really sought is an 80-foot boat and move to Florida in his retirement.
Yu can then say “ Look, I’l ensure you get your 80-foot bat. I’l bonus you, option you, or enhance your pension, whatever it takes for you to get your boat. But I’l need two years of your services” It’s a hard to resist deal. Isn’t it?
Many such examples as these. Another very important thing is to stand by your employees during difficult times. E.g. Flying down to pay your respects to someone dear to your employee or rending a helping hand for their family medical problems etc build a long lasting loyalty which does not happen over a cup of beer or cocktail.
Outsiders with Influence:
· Clients like babies need attention
· If an important client is at a meting in your building, drop in.
· Share your official and personal contact numbers
· Consigliore to them – advise them, listen to them, stand by them( never discuss your internal organizational issues though)
· Solve their problems, not just business problems but also their personal problems.. Do not however make it embarrassing by sending birthday greetings or lavish gifts etc.
· “Let your bosses know straight out that if they don’t promote you at some point, you will walk and much of the gold will walk with you”.
· Tread carefully with the extended family
· Try and be a part of the same club or share the same hair dresser etc. this kind of info. is very crucial
Culture:
Remain culturally sensitive and try and build a culture of openness, not a culture of fear.
The New Bosses- The Journalists:
Talk to your reporters regularly; do not however give interviews unprepared
Don’t soliloquize in interviews. Give short answers that cannot b taken out of context
“If you are getting really good press, some reporters will be contrarians just to stand out from the crowd. Pay heed to them and explain them, if possible meet them personally.
Be available to a reporter both when you have a positive story and a negative story.
Leave your plush office and visit their sparse govt. offices just to introduce yourself.
Show composure when aggressively questioned
