5-19-10 The Real Power

On Monday, I talked a little about the power of your position as an executive (5-17-10 Personal Impact) along with the impact that the position power has on those around you.

I was browsing the latest issue of Harvard Business Review (May 2010) this morning and ran across an article that really caught my attention….. And in my opinion, extends the discussion of position power.

The article is from Michael Segalla and is based on his research as to where the real power resides in the organization. Michael is a professor and researcher at the HEC School of Management in Paris. You can find the HBR article at the link below. It is a very short, but very powerful article, I think. Go ahead, click the link. I’ll wait.

Vision Statement: Find the Real Power in Your Organization

Glad that you came back! Didn’t you find the article interesting?

For the new and/or aspiring executive, I find a couple of interesting implications from this research.

First, it would be interesting to plot where you are on the grid. Do you fall in category A -- untapped potential? If you are new or aspiring as an executive, the answer is likely yes. So what? Well, in my mind, the issue for you becomes one of how you move up in the hierarchy and in objective authority --- while maintaining your high sense of responsibility. Of course, that movement up isn’t something you get to chose. But you CAN influence it. How? By finding a boss or mentor that trusts you AND that can help your movement. When you find this person (or persons), you will find additional opportunities to prove yourself. It is then up to you to make sure that you succeed.

A second implication for the new/aspiring executive is to understand how those around you (your peers, your bosses, etc) fall on this grid. Yeah, I know, you can’t go out and interview all of these people to get a fix on it. But that’s okay, because if you stop and think about it, you likely have all of the information you need to plot each person on the grid. And if you don’t have the info, your network can certainly help to provide it.

Once you have them plotted, then what? Well, it should help to shape your work, discussions, meetings, etc. with each person. And you can’t just limit this to those people above you on the grid. Look at the grid that was reproduced in HBR. There are a lot of people in the lower section of the grid with a significant amount of objective authority. Wouldn’t these be ideal people to have as part of your network? And what about category B, dangerous deadwood, people? You certainly can’t ignore them, because they do have a lot of power in your organization. And frankly, if you ignore or butt heads with them, it is likely that they can snuff your career advancement chances in a heartbeat. But since you now know that they wield a large amount of power but lack the sense of responsibility, you can shape your interactions with them -- such that you aren’t damaged or hurt by the interactions.

Of course, I am sure that there are many other implications that go with this model of determining the real power in an organization. And many thanks to Professor Segalla for sharing his powerful research with us.

Cheers!

5-3-10 It Is Okay to Change Your Mind

In past entries in this blog, I’ve talked some about finding your passion and expecting change in your career (3-19-10 A Couple of Things to Consider and 3-15-10 Do Overs? and 3-10-10 Shoulda Told Me #8 and 12-9-09 Work for Free??). But a conversation today with my niece (thanks Kaitlyn! Love you.) has me thinking some more about the topic.

Why is it that we expect our 18 to 20 year olds to know what they want to do for the rest of their work life -- when they don’t usually even know at this point what their passion in life is? And yet, despite this, our universities ask them to pick a major and then proceed through their training and education with a single-minded focus of someone that has it all figured out.

Heck, I’m 50-something and I STILL don’t have it figured out! And I’ve been through 3 disparate degrees, along with 25 or so years of career. Seems to me that we are handicapping our next generation with this educational attitude.

And it goes beyond that. As an executive, I think that we are often handicapping our new hires by forcing them to apply for a specific job just to get their foot in the darned door. Yes, I realize that you have to match specific educational background with the specific job openings that you have. And at an entry-level position, you are often looking for those college grads that have the best GPA. But I would contend that it is a bit short-sighted. By limiting your selection based on GPA or on major, you are likely missing some VERY good candidates. Heck, one of my best business analysts had a history degree. And one of my best program managers was a fighter pilot. Not what most hiring executives would’ve looked for, I’m sure.

And then once they are working for us, all to often, we don’t take the time to learn about their varied interests or give them the chance to try new and different things in the workplace. Again, I contend that is short-sighted. You never truly know what your people are capable of until you give them a wide variety of opportunities. Yes, it might make your job a bit more difficult. But really, as an executive isn’t one of your most important jobs to develop your people? And how can you do that without helping them to discover their passion.

Yeah, with both your new hires and your old hands, you run the risk of making a mistake. You might hire the wrong person or you might put a person in a job or project that they simply can’t do. But that is how we learn. We make mistakes. We change. We adapt.

So whether you are the executive or the new hire, you don’t have to know it all right this minute. You can change your mind --- along with changing your major, your job, or even your career.

Cheers!

3-19-10 A Couple of Things to Consider

As you are choosing what area of executive expertise you want to focus upon in your career, here are a couple of things to consider……

First, you should pick a profession that contains work that you really love. Let’s face it, as an executive, you ability to up and switch professions is probably somewhat limited. Although the skills and abilities you will gain are certainly transferable, it is unlikely that someone will take a chance on you moving from, say, the aerospace industry to the fashion industry as an executive. Not to say that it can’t be done, it is just highly unlikely. And consider…… you will likely be working for the next 30 to 50 years. That is a VERY long time to do something you find that you hate. So when you are just starting out, try lots of different things so that you can find a profession that you love.

The other thing to consider is money. Of course, money isn’t everything. But it IS important. Heck, one of the attractions of being an executive for me was that I knew the pay scale and bonuses in my industry were pretty good. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make big bucks. You just need to know your motivation at the outset and then find the profession that fits your passion as well as your monetary motivation. It has to support the lifestyle you want.

Cheers!

3-15-10 Do Overs?

Someone asked me the other day…. “if you had the chance, would you have done anything different with your career?” My immediate response? Heck, no. After all, I got to do many, many different things over my career. I mean, really, I got to do things (like manage an airplane factory) that I never dreamed about 30 years ago when I was just starting out. Oh sure, I had a couple of bosses that were real trolls and I had a couple of positions that, while I didn’t despise them, I sure didn’t love them --- but who doesn’t go through that over the span of a career?

But I knew, from about the first year of my career, that I wanted to be an executive. And executive of what, wasn’t really clear in my plans. I just knew that I wanted to be in the executive ranks. So I took the actions and jobs that I thought would get me there. It worked pretty well for me.

But then, being the person that I am, I had to reflect on the question a little more. And yes, there are probably some things that I could (should?) have done differently.

I always told my mentees that they should try lots of things, either in school, at work, or in their leisure time. That way, they could figure out what truly interested them. Sure, I followed my advice to a certain extent, as evidenced by my varied positions -- from finance to manufacturing to program management to sales. But I didn’t follow my own advice as fully as I probably should have. For example, I always wondered how I would have faired as a scientist -- chemical, biological, botanical, etc. I know for sure that I wouldn’t have been a good hardware or software engineer. But after completing my PhD, and truly enjoying the research part of the program, I did wonder about a scientific career path. Had I taken my own advice, way back when, I might have had a quite different path.

Which brings me to my next piece of advice to all of my mentees -- find your passion. Trying lots of things can lead to finding your passion. Now granted, you might not be able to make a livable wage at your passion, but at least you know what drives you and can look for jobs/career paths that will feed your need. For me, that passion was always to be the best manager of people that I could be. By trying the varied disciplines and jobs, I was able to learn and grow as a manager and an executive.

So no, I wouldn’t “do over” anything -- being an executive was a terrific ride -- and has always been my passion. However, I should have taken the time to learn more about the scientific side of the world to see if that fed my passion even more than the path I took.

Cheers!