Morphing to a Model

After all the reading, surveying, analyzing, extrapolating, synthesizing, etc….. then what? Well the next step was to use the results of all this activity to update the conceptual model into a final model of executive skills and traits for use by new or aspiring executives.

If you will remember, the original conceptual model looked like this.

I took each of the functions and updated them, based on the results of my research.

The important communications skills for the new executive include: listen, network, and speak. The skill of establishing interpersonal relationships is combined into networking, as the participants tended to use these terms interchangeably. The skill of written communication is dropped from the model, as it is clear for this population that in-person communication skills are most needed by the new executive. This is perhaps influenced by the tendency of this group to debate and discuss as a prelude to decision-making. So now, this section of the model looks as follows.

For the people skills, the ability to hire and retain people is significantly less important than the other personnel-related skills, and so is eliminated from the model. Keep in mind, that isn’t unusual for the aerospace industry, particularly in downturns. This executive team was clearly focused on the team that they already have in place. If this survey had been conducted during an up-cycle in the industry, I’ve no doubt that the results relative to hiring would have been significantly different. So now, the people skills become as follows.

Within the vision skills portion of the model, the overwhelming (indeed, almost unanimous) response was for the skill of understanding the big picture. However, this didn’t seem to preclude the other vision skills. It did lead me to understand that the remaining skills weren’t as “crisply” defined as possible. The survey comments show that the new executive must be able to transition from a tactical view of the business to a more strategic view of the business. As one executive said, “setting the vision for the future”. Additionally, it was clear that this group of execs believe that a new executive needs to not only have the skills to set the strategy, but also to communicate and even “market” the strategy to get buy-in from the rest of the organization. As a result, the vision skills portion of the model looks as follows.

The execution function portion of the conceptual model provided the greatest number of individual skills, all important to this group of execs to one degree or another.

As a result of their input, the managing change skill is combined with the ability to deal with ambiguity. Also combined were the skills related to dealing with fragmentation and working at a fast pace. One participant observed that the business world moves at a rapid pace and doesn’t always throw information or even problems in a linear, logical fashion. As such, the executive must be able to keep up as he/she moves from fragment to fragment of information.

And finally, as a result of the survey input, the skill of delegation was added to the model. This is especially critical for the new executive. By delegating the day-to-day activities, the new executive no longer participates as closely in the latest “fire fight”…. he/she instead is forced to think in a more long-term, strategic manner.

As a result of these changes, the execution skills portion of the model now appears as follows.

And finally, the executive personal traits. Most of the original list clearly resonated with the survey participants. There was near unanimous support for the honest, ethical, and credible trait. This is likely due to the Midwestern location of this organization and its associated Midwestern conservative values. It was interesting to note that while the participants felt strongly about ethics and honesty; they were, at best, lukewarm about the need for the executive to be empathetic and nice. As such, that trait is dropped from the model. The final portion of the model, executive traits, is shown below. They are listed in priority order.

Bringing it all together, the final Executive Skills and Traits model is shown below.

Of course, I have a few more things to say about this model. Next time, a further discussion of the final model.

Cheers!

Shoulda Told Me #3

As I listened to the ebb and flow of conversations at various holiday gatherings, I heard a lot about work. Not surprising since most of us spend the majority of our waking time at work. What did surprise me was the how the conversation, time and again, turned to bad bosses. It got me to thinking about my own career, how I operated as a boss, and what I observed about other people as bosses. So I need to take a side trip down the “someone shoulda told me” bunny trail once again…….

I have had the opportunity to move around a lot, from position to position, in my career (when you have a job attention span of about 2 years, that is a GOOD thing). I’ve tried to make it my policy that, when I move to a new area, I never judge my predecessor (or my successor, for that matter). But there are times…….

As many times before, I moved to a new area of the factory as senior manager. When I move to an area that is new to me, I make a point to spend a significant amount of time out in the shops, for many reasons…… I have never (nor will I ever get the chance) to actually build an airplane with my hands, so how will I learn about it if I don’t spend time with the people that actually do the jobs? Another reason? It is how I get to know people. Another? It is WAY more interesting that sitting in a meeting!

Anyway, in most cases, the mechanics were welcoming. They wanted to learn about me and they were thrilled to show me the intricacies of their jobs. But this new area was different. When I walked through the shops, the mechanics didn’t look up from their work table or machine. They didn't call out to me to say hello. They would answer questions, if asked, but never volunteered information. For a couple of weeks, I made my several times daily trip around the factory and the response was the same. People were polite, they answered my questions, but I was never encouraged to stay long or learn more. I was completely baffled. And while this may sound corny, there just wasn’t any joy in this workplace. I hate that. We all spend WAY too much time at work not to have joy or fun while we are at it.

So I started asking some discrete questions of the shop managers and my peer directors to see what I could come up with. And what I came up with absolutely appalled me.

You have to understand that in the old days in a manufacturing environment, fear and intimidation was often the way employees were managed. Unfortunately, that management style has sometimes carried over to today’s environment. Employees are loudly and publicly berated for being away from their work station….. even if it was to go to the crib to get needed supplies! And if they try to come up with ways to improve their environment, they are roundly criticized. They are generally talked down to and made to feel as if they are only retained if they turn off their brains when they walk in the door. After a while, people in this situation respond by putting their heads down and doing their work -- albeit slowly and grudgingly. Also, after a while, they will develop a finely-tuned early warning system to alert them when the boss is going to be in the area….. Allowing them time to adopt the eyes-downcast, docile mien that their boss seemed to crave.

My subtle questioning of others led me to believe that the previous management team was this type of team. Sheesh. Thank goodness that hadn't been the norm for other areas I was posted to.

I learned, by listening to the shop radio, that my route through the shops was always preceded by subtle announcements on the air. If you have never worked in a place that uses shop radios (basically a walkie-talkie system for a group of shops), you don’t realize that this is a well-tended early warning system that will outshine any tornado or fire alarm that I’ve heard. The radio would crackle to life as I moved from shop to shop. By the time I would get to an area, the employees were ready to display a docile attitude that they thought I wanted. Why wouldn’t they? That’s what was expected of them by a previous regime!

Gad, I wish that someone would have told me that this type of fear and intimidation still existed in today’s environment!

How do you overcome it? For me, it was patience (not usually my strong suit, but definitely required for this area). And showing my mechanics that I supported them and truly wanted to know about their jobs, their ideas, their status. And by never, and I mean NEVER, talking down to them nor publicly embarrassing them regardless of the situation.

Did it work? Well, yeah, but it wasn’t overnight. It takes time to build a trusting relationship with one person, let alone with an entire factory area. But, over time, we came to trust each other. How do I know that? On my last day in that area, as I walked through the shops, I was greeted with smiles, hand shakes, hugs, and waves. That alone is worth the patience it required.

Next time (I promise), how the conceptual model for executive skills and traits morphed.

Cheers!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!

More posts next week.

Cheers!

Participant Observations (or the inside skinny)

If you have been reading along with me, by now you know why I did the research, background for the research, what the research was, and some preliminary results. Today, I’ll take a look at some general observations made by the participants.

The participant observations came as I was analyzing the data by demographic category. For example, within the execution function, the only intersection of agreement between males and females was the ability to be decisive. As related by one executive, “many/most times decisions are elevated due to lack of a clear-cut ‘answer’. Being able to listen to opposing arguments and make a decisions is critical to executive leadership. If it was easy, the team would have already decided”. But I also learned that as important as being decisive is also to have the skill to delegate not only a task but also the decisions related to the task. So the “skill” isn’t a narrow focus on decision-making. It is expanded to acknowledge the need for the executive to understand when he/she should step up and make the decision as well as know when to delegate the decision to other levels.

When I analyzed the results based on the level of the executive respondent, I discovered that within the vision function, there is clear agreement that as a person moves into the executive ranks, he/she should must also move from the day-to-day (or tactical) management to a longer-term or strategic view. One executive told me, “in my first executive assignment, I focused on solving day-to-day problems and the organization I led did not have a clear, well-communicated strategy. This limited the effectiveness of the organization and sent the wrong signals about what was necessary for long-term success”. Clearly, it is important for the new or aspiring executive to figure out how to make the transition to strategic management.

Within the functional organization demographic, I found agreement that the new executive must have, and use, the skills of empowerment and teaching/mentoring. The responses relative to this went from the purely practical (if you don’t empower, you end up doing the day-to-day stuff), to the more esoteric idea of ownership and buy-in. One executive summed this up very well, “if you are the smartest (or busiest) person in the organization, you probably need to make some changes”. Wise advice, indeed.

One theme I heard, over and over, in the structured and in the open-ended questions was relative to the communication function. These executives could not stress enough the need to have the skill for establishing interpersonal relationships, which they tended to use interchangeably with the skill for development personal networks. In addition, they approached this need via varying avenues. For example, one executive discussed the need to create a sound network within his/her peer group -- “I wish I had been more incisive about the fragile egos and personalities of existing executives”. Solid peer-to-peer relationships would have allowed him/her to ask questions or challenge ideas without creating defensiveness. Another application of the networking skill concerns getting work done through the “right channel” within the organization -- or more specifically, getting the right support to get an idea moved forward. “At the executive level, decisions often get made based upon trust and relationships. There aren’t always policies, procedures, or protocols in place to drive decisions that need to be made. They’re based upon a mutual trusting relationship.” Clearly there is a need for the new and aspiring executive to carefully (and honestly) build his/her network of relationships. This idea of building your network is clearly a critical factor for the success of an executive.

Next time? How the conceptual model morphed from a concept to a final model for executive skills and traits.

Cheers!

The Research

Okay, so I’ve told you about the “burning question” as well as the background of where I came up with the conceptual model for executive skills and traits. But until you actually do some research, you can’t know whether your ideas (and others ideas) are valid, right? So now, we turn to “the research”. Whenever I type those two words, I always hear it in my mind as a deep, James Earl Jones, CNN-type voiceover. “THE RESEARCH”. Impressive, eh?

At any rate, one of the goals of graduate school and of a PhD program is to actually graduate, so the school is repetitive in making sure that you understand that your research should be of sufficient breadth to prove/disprove your point, while at the same time, sufficiently narrow that you can actually accomplish it.

To that end, I defined my research population as the executives of the largest tier 1 structures supplier in the commercial aerospace industry. This gave me a potential population of approximately 70 executives at all levels -- from CEO to newly-promoted directors. The survey itself was comprised of both set questions and open-ended questions in order to derive both qualitative and quantitative data. My end-goal was to validate the conceptual model as well as to add or subtract from it as required.

One cautionary note here. Because this was a small target population and because it was not randomly chosen, care should be taken in extrapolating the results to other populations.

In the end, I had just over a 65% return rate from the survey. A look at the demographics of the respondents provides some interesting information. For example, 13% of the respondents were female and 87% were male. Not a surprising distribution given the nature of the aerospace industry. A couple of other demographic bits of data…… The executive levels of the respondents were represented by: company officer/executive VP (4%), senior VP (11%), VP (11%), and director (74%). The functional orientation of the respondents included: operations/manufacturing (42%), engineering (27%), finance (11%), human resources (4%), and administrative (16%). Again, not a surprising distribution given the nature of the aerospace industry.

So what did I learn? For the most part, the conceptual model held up. Some examples of this.

In the function of communication, the participants clearly leaned towards the use of “in person” communication skills. Within the people functions, the slant was towards the retention of existing employees, not the hiring of new employees. Not surprising in a mature industry such as aerospace.

Within the vision function, the participants stressed the need for the new or aspiring executive to have the skill of understanding the big picture. This was significantly more important that having the ability to create the strategy or meaning for the organization.

Within the execution function, the respondents equally valued the ability to be decisive and the ability to gather, synthesize, and analyze data. And within the executive traits of the conceptual model, the respondents most highly valued the trait of being honest, ethical, and credible.

Of course, with all this data, I was able to come up with a host of information from categories such as age group, gender, functional area, number of years on the executive payroll, etc. Because of the sheer volume, I can’t cover it all here.

I did put in one “throwaway” question that produced some input for the new or aspiring executive. I asked these executives to indicate one of four methods by which the executive acquires these skills/traits. The four methods were: heredity, college education, on-the-job, and special training. Almost 60% of the respondents indicated that on-the-job training was the single most important avenue. And none of the respondents believed that it was heredity. So, there is hope for all of us.

As mentioned earlier, I also collected data from a couple of open-ended questions. The most revealing was, “Looking back to when you were first promoted to executive management, what is the one thing that you wish you had known about being a successful executive?” Of those that responded, over 31% said that the skill of building relationships was critically important. More about those answers in future posts.

So what does all this data mean for the conceptual model of executive skills and traits? The model held up fairly well…… however, as a result of the analysis of the data and the drawing of conclusions, I was able to make some important modifications to it.

Next time…… some observations from the research results and the final model for executive skills and traits.

Cheers!

Shoulda Told Me #2

You know the current airline commercial….. The one where a guy volunteers to get on a plane every time the boss asks? Well, he’s got it right. Travel is an important part of the business world…. For many reasons. I sure wish someone had told me that early on in my career.

Travel will benefit you on many levels.

First, it will teach you resilience. Let’s face it, when you travel, your bags WILL get lost, your flights WILL be delayed or cancelled, you WILL get lost as you drive, your hotel reservation WILL get messed up, etc. And if you are a “controlling type” (like I’m known to be), those challenges will certainly test you. To respond, you’ll have to learn how to sit back and let the world pass by --- people watching, reading, doing your crossword, etc. --- patience is a learned virtue, in my opinion.

Second, as your travels take you outside your country’s borders, you will have the opportunity to learn about other nations’ cultures and activities. How fascinating that can be! From a banquet in China to touring a business in Rio, you’ll see and hear many concepts and ideas that will open your mind (and sometimes appall you!). Perhaps, they are ideas that you can bring home and put to work for you or your company.

Finally, it makes you the “go to guy” (guy, in the generic sense, of course! ). As you volunteer to take on travel “missions” over and over, your boss(es) come to think of you as the person they can go to. And over time, it won’t just be going to you for travel, he or she will begin to go to you for all sorts of interesting assignments.

Having said all of that, yes, you should travel when you have the chance. But there is one caveat. Don’t forget where home is. It is ironic that, for many years, I wished that I lived anywhere but the Midwest. And now, after all of the traveling, I’ve learned that this little slice of the world is pretty darned nice to come home to.

Cheers!

But First, Some History

So how do you define executive skills and traits? Well, I started by reading and reading and reading….. Everyone. Okay, maybe not everyone. But I read A LOT. And I discovered that I wasn’t the only one out there with this question in my mind. Darn, no original thought there. (Which could lead me to wonder, are there any original ideas in business anymore? An interesting bunny trail, to be sure.)

Frankly, there are a significant number of excellent thinkers in this area. And I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. So I started with understanding what past and current thinking was on executive skills and traits.

Surprisingly, the very first thinker in this area was in 1938.… Chester Barnard, who wrote “The Functions of the Executive”. (btw, all references are given below so that you can go to the source.) His ideas started my trail of clues as to what the skills and traits of a successful executive are. Barnard believed that the functions of the executive are to: provide a channel of communication, secure the essential efforts, formulate and define purpose. So…. In today’s vernacular, communicate, hire the right people, and be strategic.

But is that all there is to it? Nope.

Since Barnard’s time, many academicians and business people have entered the discussion on the functions of the executive. This includes such folks as: Mintzberg, Drucker, Heifetz, Laurie, Kotter, and Peters. Just as important are the learnings from the business leaders. They furthered my trail of clues relative to the skills and traits of a successful executive.

These thinkers typically either echo Barnard’s list of functions, or in some cases, add to it. For example, Mintzberg echoed Barnard’s list of functions by defining three broad roles of management. Drucker took a different slant by explaining what it takes to be an effective leader, not just what an executive should or shouldn’t do.

Heifetz and Laurie add to the conversation by explaining how our leaders should be adaptable to the challenges and opportunities within their environment. Kotter echoes this addition. He says, “management is about coping with complexity. Leadership, by contrast, is about coping with change.” In this context, one could argue that this provides a fine distinction between management functions and executive functions.

Peters has an extensive body of work relative to leadership. Most striking, for me, is his approach via the realities of leadership. For example, one reality that Peters describes is that “senior managers will be shielded from most bad news”. In defining the realities, Peters adds to the conversation of executive functions, and by extension the skills and traits of successful executives.

And finally, no conversation about executive skills and traits would be complete without some input from business leaders. There are several places to pick up this information -- books by the business community, articles about their successes and failures, etc. Eric Yaverbaum has the results of a research project where he interviewed over 100 CEOs of corporations across the world. His research asked 3 simple questions about the CEOs leadership techniques. It is fascinating that, 40 some years later, the results of his efforts appear to closely align with Barnard’s 1930s view of the functions of the executive.

After all that reading, so what? Well, it allowed me to create a synthesized model of executive skills and traits that became the conceptual framework and foundation for my research. The model is shown here.

Next time……. How did I add to the conversation about successful executive skills and traits??

Cheers!

References:

Barnard, C.I. (1938). The functions of the executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Drucker, P.F. (1967). The effective executive: The definitive guide to getting the right things done. New York: Harper Collins.

Drucker, P.F. (2004). What makes an effective executive? Harvard Business Review, 82(6), 58-63.

Heifetz, R.A. and Laurie, D.L. (2001). The work of leadership. Harvard Business Review, 79(11), 131-140.

Kotter, J.P. (2001). What leaders really do. Harvard Business Review, 79(11), 85-96.

Mintzberg, H. (1976). Planning on the left side and managing on the right. Harvard Business Review, 54(4), 49-58.

Mintzberg, H. (1990). The manager's job: Folklore and fact. Harvard Business Review, 68(2), 163-176.

Mintzberg, H. (1994). Rounding out the manager's job. Sloan Management Review, 36(1), 11-26.

Mintzberg, H. (1996). Musings on management. Harvard Business Review, 74(4), 61-67.

Mintzberg, H. (2000). View from the top: Henry Mintzberg on strategy and management. The Academy of Management Executive, 14(3), 31-42.

Peters, T. (2001a). Rule #3: Leadership is confusing as hell. Fast Company, 44, 124-138.

Peters, T. (2001b). Leadership: Sad facts and silver linings. Harvard Business Review, 79(11), 121-128.

Yaverbaum, E. (2004). Leadership secrets of the world's most successful CEOs: 100 top executives reveal the management strategies that made their companies great. Chicago: Dearborn Trade Publishing.

Burning Question

I’ve been asked many, many times, “why go through all the work to get a PhD”? After all, I am a successful executive (I think) and I have had tons of opportunities to try out different disciplines and business areas. So why did I do it? As I mentioned in a previous post, I had a burning question. What does it take to be a successful executive?

Of course, I know that answer from my own experiences and activities. And I spend a significant amount of time reading --- business press, books, blogs, etc. But when I tried to explain to others (mentees, mostly), I couldn’t really pinpoint for them what would make them successful in their particular situations. I realized that some more detailed research would be in order. And, for me, the way to accomplish this was the structure of a PhD program.

What led me to this question? Well, let’s face it, executive training in most companies is scant or non-existent.

When you are promoted from non-management to a first-level manager, most companies are pretty good at providing training. Granted, it is mostly targeted at the new tools and processes that you, as a manager, will be expected to us. But there is usually some training to help ease your transition from non-management to management.

And then when you are promoted to middle-management, there is usually some additional training. It is often in the form of helping you to move from thinking tactically to thinking strategically…. Perhaps to show you how to think on a more global basis. For example, as a first-level manager, you are thinking about the tactics and processes to help your small organization be more efficient. As a middle-manager, your training would often help you broaden your thinking. So that you are looking at how your entire department fits within the larger company. And even perhaps, how your department fits within the larger business environment.

But let’s face it, when you finally earn the keys to the proverbial executive washroom, the only information you are likely to get is how wonderful the bonus package can be. Where is the training that helps you make the transition from an often inward focused middle management job to the mostly outwardly-focused executive position?

In most companies, we simply flounder around until we find our way as an executive. This usually takes the form of doing what we have always done, and hoping for the best.

My burning question drove me to wonder why we can’t help our middle managers make the transition easier --- ensuring that they become the successful executives that our companies need. And in order to figure out how to help middle managers make that transition, I realized that I needed to get back to basics. In order words, I needed to learn what are the skills and traits of a successful executive.

So what? In future posts, I’ll tell you about the background of the research, the research itself, and the resulting Executive Skills and Traits model.

Cheers!

Don't Assume Intelligence is Related to the Job

Early in my career, I worked exclusively in a staff function. But I worked for a manufacturing firm. Like most people in a staff function, I never actually went out into the factory to see what we built and how we built it.

Oh sure, I would see those factory folks in the company cafeteria. And when I thought of them at all, it was to think something along the lines of “those poor saps, stuck in the factory, doing the same thing over and over, not having/using any skills or imagination”. Man was I wrong!!

Like many, I made the assumption that their manual labor jobs were a reflection of their intelligence and capabilities. Once I had the opportunity to move to manufacturing, I realized my error.

I grew to admire the mechanics around me. They had knowledge and expertise that I will never measure up to. Let’s put this in perspective. Imagine building a 737 every 6 hours or so. Now imagine what it takes to build that airplane. Mind boggling, eh?

These mechanics are able to take a drawing, a flat piece of paper with a one-dimensional drawing on it, in one hand…… and a flat piece of metal in the other hand….. And somehow create an airplane part out of all it. They run complex machines that are the size of an apartment building. They operate overhead cranes, moving airplane pieces and chunks such that it looks like a ballet in the air. They can take all the thousands of pieces and parts, put them together, and create a half-barrel chunk of an airplane. They can take those chunks, assembly them together, and create the body of an airplane. And then do it again, and again, and again. Reliably and exactly. Whew. They can see the spatial relationships that are just so much mumbo-jumbo to me. They can “see” how the parts are to look, how the sections are to go together. Sure, these things are designed by an engineer, but they are built and assembled by a skilled mechanic. They use their hands and their minds to do some pretty cool work.

I am certain, that even with all my education, I would never be able to accomplish what they do.

Yea, their work isn’t glamorous and it certainly isn’t for everyone (including me). And yes, there is a certain amount of repetition, that would quite honestly drive me nuts. It is often dirty and back-breaking work. Imagine you are a machine operator and metal chips are flying all around you, machine coolant on the slick floor. Yes, the machine is programmed by some NC programmers, and the part is engineered by someone else. But….. The mechanic is the one that is responsible for creating the magic. These guys are smart and intelligent!

So, as an executive (or potential executive), don’t underestimate the people out on the shop floor. After all, they are the ones that make you successful, right?

Work for Free??

I once had the opportunity to speak to a group of 11 - 15 year olds. What an experience! The requesting organization ask that I talk about my education, career, and why I do what I do.

Reflecting on the time I spent with those teens, I realize that I didn’t tell them the whole story. Yes, I talked about finding your passion. And I told them about the motivation of greed for my bachelors degree. But I didn’t tie the two topics together. I missed the boat there. They deserve to know that you can and should combine your passion with making money.

I’ve been fortunate over the years to have multiple jobs in several functions --- most of which, I’ve loved. Having that variety is good for me as I seem to have a “job attention span” problem. Leaving me in a job longer than 2 or 3 years tends to be dangerous --- as I will likely start launching some turds into the punch bowl just to stir things up and keep myself amused and engaged.

I started out in Finance. That was my passion. I loved the variety of challenges I faced. And I was rewarded with merit increases and promotions. I knew, early on in my career, that I wanted to take the management career path. Had I not gotten the promotions on a regular basis, my passion would have faded quickly.

However, after a creative stint in a company development program, I was exposed to Operations (manufacturing). What an intriguing area of business! I learned several important things upon my move to Operations. I learned that I love the manufacturing side of the organization. Watching the airplane go from sheets or blocks of metal to a finished aircraft is a fascinating process. (As an aside, if you ever have the chance to watch what the industry calls a PTQ, or put-together-quick, video of aircraft manufacture, take the time to watch it.) I loved the organization and the work (although it was HARD work!). I was rewarded, both monetarily and with promotions. But as with Finance, I wouldn’t have stayed engaged and enthused had the money not followed my passion. I’m only human, I wouldn’t have done it for free.

In today’s environment, many people are forgoing pay raises or even taking pay cuts just to keep their jobs. While I understand the necessity of cutting costs, that can’t be sustained in the long term. Mostly because, sooner or later, employees will tie together their passion with their pay. And if both aren’t there, really good people will move on to other opportunities.

What I should have told those kids is ….. While it is important to love what you do, it is okay to realize that you wouldn’t do it for free. One of the best things any person can do is to combine their passion with making money.

Mind Reading

Okay, contrary to popular opinion (or at least it seems that way), when they hand you the promotion to executive management, they don’t also hand you the ability to read minds.

Time and again over the years, I’ve told my people that they have to tell me what is on their mind. If there is a problem, issue, opportunity, etc., they can’t just assume that I automatically know.

By reminding people around me that I’m not a mind reader, I’ve learned quite a lot about the people that have moved in and out of my life.

One such person was my assistant (or secretary, depending on which era you are from). She was an outstanding assistant. We had been together long enough that it seemed we could read each other’s minds. She knew how to arrange things, to make my life easier. She was, in my opinion, worth her weight in gold.

We had a death in the organization, of an extraordinary business analyst. Among other things, she was responsible for the behind-the-scenes preparation of corporate-level meetings. To many, this appeared to be a “pud job”. But believe me, when things went wrong, it was very public -- and very apparent how important her organization and communication skills were.

As we were working through the replacement process (never an easy task in a big company!), my assistant came to me and asked about the job. It never occurred to me that she would want a different job! That isn’t arrogance -- just an admission of ignorance and perhaps a projection of my desires. Because she took such good care of me, I had no desire to seek a new partner (yes, I always consider my assistant to be my partner). I was projecting that same desire for status quo onto my assistant.

As my assistant and I discussed the job opening, the tasks, the skills, etc., I came to realize that she would be a perfect fit. Now why couldn’t I see that before??

I also realized, during this discussion, that she had been nervous about asking me for this position. Frankly, that surprised me on many levels. For example, I pride myself on being approachable and easy to talk to. A little blow to the ol’ ego there. But the pertinent level for this story is the “knowledge level” --- as in having the knowledge of her desire for a change. If only I could have read her mind! Then I could have approached her about the opening, instead of her having to nervously approach me. After all, my job as an executive is to get the barriers out of the way so that people have the room to do their best work.

As it turns out, she was indeed a perfect fit for the job. She had the technical skills, of course. But it also turns out that she had the even, unflappable temperament that is needed when, for example, things go wrong in a big meeting. And what’s more, she had the ability to work with all the groups outside of our organization to pull together meaningful content for each meeting. Not an easy task, even on good days!

My lesson? To tell my people and my colleagues (and even my bosses!) that I don’t read minds. If they have something on theirs, they have got to actually tell me!

Shoulda Told Me 1

From time to time, I will take a side trail in order to share what I think of as my “someone shoulda told me” moments. These are “aha” moments that I figured out either along the way or in retrospect. They are moments where I figuratively or literally clapped my forehead and thought, “well crap, if someone woulda told me that, it sure would’ve made my life better”. Some will be work related and some not. But here goes with “shoulda told me #1”.

Sign up or volunteer for “extra curricular activities”. These are the things that don’t strictly fall into your job description. For example, most companies have community outreach activities. Where I worked, we had the annual holiday drive -- food drive, coat drive, toys drive, etc. So one year, I volunteered to coordinate the food drive. That lead to more responsibility in the following year’s drive. And then finally, a couple of years later, I was tapped to head up the entire program. Keep in mind that this was all in addition to doing my “real job”.

It finally dawned on me that this was important to both me personally and for my career.

Personally, it was very gratifying to put together and execute plans that would result in a better life for those less fortunate in our community. I will never forget the very first year. I headed up the food drive program. There was always a friendly competition between similar companies in our community as to who could collect the most food. And we always got our butt kicked. But this year was different. I can’t tell you how gratifying it was at the culmination of the program to pull up to the local food bank with over 10 semi-truck loads of food from our employees. Yep, we won the competition too.

Why was it important for my career? For several reasons. First, this kind of successful program doesn’t happen by accident. It requires military-precision planning and execution. So it forced me to hone my organization skills. In addition, it isn’t accomplished by one person. Remember, I was a volunteer for these programs. And so were all of the other people that worked the program. If you ever want a real management challenge, try organizing and directing volunteers. It is the most difficult management job there is. So, in the end, it also forced me to hone my interpersonal skills. To figure out what motivated each person and then use that information to help them succeed.

And finally, it was important for my career because of the visibility. And I’m not just talking about the live news coverage we got for that first delivery. Remember, this was back in the days before web meetings. And email was a little used tool. So in order to promote the program, I was personally required to go to every directors staff meeting, starting with the head of the company. I would make a presentation about the program as well as issue the challenge to compete between organizations and between the local companies. As a result, I was able to hone my presentation skills and learn how to persuasively present a topic to upper management. In addition, these guys remembered me later on --- when they were looking for someone to promote.

So, yes, I wish someone had told me how important those volunteer activities would be for my personal growth and my professional growth.　
　
　
　

Education

Over the years I’ve been asked, multiple times, did I really need all three degrees to be an executive? Well, yes and no. Here’s how I answer that question. I got the first degree for greed, the second degree for advancement, and the third degree for myself. Allow me to explain.

When I first left high school, I worked as a “programmer tech”. I sat right next to full-fledged programmers, doing the same work ---- but I made half of what they did. Why? They had a degree and I didn’t. So greed became my motivation to go to college and get the bachelors degree.

After working for several years, I was promoted into management. I started looking around me to see if I could determine what I needed to do in order to make it to middle management. It was becoming clearer, at that time, that an MBA had become the minimum “ticket to entry”. Since I wanted those promotions, back to school I went.

After having been an executive for several years, I found that I had a “burning question”. What does it take to be successful as an executive? After some fits and starts, I came to realize that the best way for me to at least try to answer this question was via the structure of a doctoral program. So to research my burning question, I was back to school yet again.

So having said all of that, is a degree required to be an executive? My firm belief is “yes”. Oh I know, you will find many examples of executives that have succeeded without the benefit of a degree. But I believe that if you are an aspiring executive, in most cases, you will need at least a bachelors, if not a masters degree in order to make it to the executive ranks. Do you need a PhD? Not in most cases. The exception being, of course, some technical fields.

So if I have to have a degree, what kind of degree should I get? Well, it depends (don’t you just love those non-specific answers?!). One way to answer this question is to follow the money in your chosen industry. Where are the high-paying jobs? In the aerospace industry, the highest-paying jobs are, first, engineering and second, manufacturing. I was fortunate enough to have a boss that took a chance on me and moved me into manufacturing as a factory director. (I was a finance wonk. Imagine the guts that move took -- on both of our parts.) But I would have never been able to move to the engineering department. Why? I didn’t have the technical background. All of the line directors in engineering came from an engineering background. So, if I really wanted to follow the money in this industry, I should have gotten my bachelors in engineering, instead of finance.

Another way to answer this question is to look at the industry requirements. Clearly, if you want to head up, say, a hospital, you will likely need a medical degree. Or if you want to be a college dean, you will need a PhD. In other words, don’t fixate on the specific job that you want (for example, doctor or teacher -- although that is important), take a look up and down the value chain of the industry that interests you and see what the requirements are. Then tailor your education around that.

So……. Did I really need all 3 degrees? Nope. Am I glad that I went ahead with them? You bet!

Cheers!
　
　

Introduction

Another blog for executives? Yep. There always seem to be plenty of executive topics to discuss. So any new forum gives us another opportunity to read, learn, dissect, understand, explain. Well, you name it, and it’ll probably be covered in this blog.

But first, let’s get the formalities out of the way. Who the heck am I? I am a retired aerospace executive. I spent over 26 years in the industry. (Yes, I will get around to updating my profile.) I’ve had amazing opportunities, been in both the staff and line functions. I’m an avid fan of the aerospace industry. I’m such an airplane geek. Of course, more about that in later posts. In addition to working, I’ve also been a life-long learner. I have 3 degrees (good grief). My PhD research was specifically targeted towards understanding executive skills and traits. In fact, it culminated when I developed a model for executive skills and traits. Yep, you guessed it. More about that in later posts.

So now, I’m on to a new chapter in my life, one that includes learning how to blog. I’m pretty sure that I’m going to make some mistakes (if I don’t then I’m probably not trying hard enough). So bear with me because I believe that I have some insights that will be helpful, at least to new or aspiring executives….. And maybe even for you “war dogs” that have been at this for a while. So come along for the ride as I explore this medium.

And second, who the heck are you? Tell me about yourself. Respond to my posts. Send me questions and ideas. Agree with me. Disagree with me. I plan to respond to each of you, but hey, I may not….. My blog, my prerogative.

My ultimate goal is to make this beneficial for all of us. So let the conversation begin.

Cheers!