Every Friday I write about a topic of particular interest to working parents who manage people.
Want the corner office? You’ll have to figure out how to transition successfully from senior manager to executive — the time in a career when previously successful employees are most likely to fail. As the Korn/Ferry Institute reports in their paper The 6 Qs of Management, “over half of first-time general managers stumble, some never to recover.”
Executive leadership demands more than just specialized skills or knowledge: it requires the ability to see the company’s larger goals and find your role within those parameters. That doesn’t mean that great executives don’t advocate strongly for their departments. They do; but their advocacy is done in the context of the organization’s overall objectives, not their narrow band of interest.
In addition to thinking holistically about the company, a successful executive must be able to move from being an expert to listening to experts. The best leaders know what they don’t know, and fill those gaps by hiring strong people to advise, plan and execute in those areas. This sounds simple, but it’s surprisingly difficult for senior managers to admit that they don’t have all of the answers themselves. Rather than bringing their experts to the table when meeting with their counterparts and supervisors, many executives go it alone, and mangle their message.
Here are my top ten traits of successful executive leadership:
- Holistic Thinking: Great executives see more than just the bottom line in their area. They recognize that successes for their counterparts often lead to their own achievement. In addition, if you can identify what is important for your counterparts, who are also competitors for company resources, you can find synergies that make the organization stronger and build your political capital.
- Authenticity: Slacker Manager turned me on to this definition of authenticity from the University of Nebraska:
Being genuine, [and] honest with oneself as well as others…“authenticity” connotes not only candor, but an absence of hypocrisy or self-deception.
So don’t just act like you care about the company; really care. If you really care, you won’t need to try “brand yourself;” you can just be yourself. Believe that your company has something important to offer, and follow through on that commitment in an authentic way. Think this is all feel-good, mumbo-jumbo? Think again. As Jim Collins writes in Good to Great, his book chronicling the country’s most successful companies:
[Top] leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goals of building a great company. It’s not that [these] leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious — but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves. (Emphasis is Collins’.)
- Flexibility: Technology is changing rapidly, and the nature of companies — regardless of industry — are changing too. Flexibility is key to responding to this change now, and rethinking strategy according to whatever the future may bring. While every CEO won’t need to know about the latest social network, successful executives will understand how Web 2.0 is changing the way organizations work. (Think you don’t get it yet? Check out Clay Shirky‘s book Here Comes Everybody, which explains this phenomeonon in simple language.)
- Vision: So you really care about your company. Express a vision that will follow through on that passion, and map discrete goals onto that vision. Think big, not just about individual projects, but also about where your organization is going, given the changing technology landscape and your revenue opportunities. Let your direct reports focus on meeting revenue goals today — you need to outline a bigger picture that recognizes core business opportunities in the future.
- Recognition of Organization’s Flaws and Failures: The other day I heard someone say that any company that thinks they are the only, or the best, at what they do is probably not destined for greatness. Why? Because they aren’t self-aware enough to see where they need to strengthen their operation. Humility about your company — and yourself — is positively correlated with success. That said, some people are too focused on the negative; make sure to compliment your managers on what they’ve done well, and don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater when assessing your companies performance.
- Charisma and Interpersonal Skills: Great executives know how to work with others. They just do. Alienating your counterparts, direct reports or supervisors will lead to long-run failure, even if you do manage to burn bright for a year or two. And you never know who your next boss might be.
Related links:
- The Trick to Becoming a Senior Leader from Peter Bregman at Harvard Business Publishing.
- 10 Ways to Fail As a Leader from Nevermind the Manager.
- Success, Authenticity and All the Things You Aren’t from All Things Workplace.
