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!