Cara is held in high regard by leaders at the highest levels within her company. She is bright, funny, an acknowledged SME in her field.  She is known for getting things done quickly and effectively.  Her direct reports love working for her.  Her bosses often get on her nerves when they do “stupid stuff”. When  I asked her to define “stupid”. She laughed and said, “Anyone who has a different opinion than me.” I told you she was funny.  We dug into her comment a bit.  We found that she actually was very open to her direct reports when they presented an idea or approach that differed from hers. She had more difficulty when a dissenting opinion came from her boss or someone else at a higher level. She wasn’t really sure why. As we unpacked things she began to come to the realization that there were certain things that impacted her staff and others in negative ways that she couldn’t control.  She was very protective of those who worked in her downstream but quick to become frustrated by those above. She understood when the higher ups changed course or asked for last minute changes, her team might end up missing a deadline. They’d be adversely impacted because the people waiting on a deliverable don’t care why they aren’t getting it on time.  They need it when they need it. Continue reading Cara- The Art of Being Over Responsible

About five minutes into my conversation with Bill who was interviewing me as his potential coach, I said, “So you’re the guy who does all the work but never says anything about it.” He nodded his head vigorously and said, “Yeah, that’s me.” I said, “this is not a great way to get promoted you know.” Bill laughed. Then he asked, “When can we start?” As it turns out, Bill really was the guy that did all the work but some people did know it. But not necessarily the right people or enough of them.

Bill couldn’t have been a better human being. He always wanted to get it right and do what was in the best interest of the enterprise. He had a great brain and a great heart. If you have those two things you can generally learn the rest. People who knew Bill well, admired him for his personal and professional attributes. As is often the case with those who perform admirably below the radar, he was not always in the conversations about who would get a promotion. So we made a plan.

Continue reading Bill- Self- Promotion

I have worked with executives who weren’t in a position to drive strategy but were seen as tacticians who were incapable of thinking about was coming. Barry was a Director of Operations; he was the guy “who got things done”.  Nobody outworked this guy and nobody at his company understood the details of their operations as well as Barry.  Barry’s boss Paul, the SVP of Operations told me that Barry didn’t have a strategic bone in his body.   I told Paul that I didn’t believe that being strategic was a skeletal function, that it was simply a way of thinking.  He wasn’t buying.  Paul thought very highly of Barry and wanted to put him in the mix for succession planning. However, he didn’t feel comfortable putting Barry’s name forth in succession planning sessions because he was “too tactical.”

I tried to ferret out from Paul what exactly was missing from Barry’s repertoire that caused him to be too tactical.  He had some difficulty describing what consigned Barry to being tactical. So, I asked him what he did that Barry didn’t do.  He explained that Barry did not look far enough ahead. OK. Got that.  “What else?” I asked.  ‘He doesn’t connect what he is doing to the company’s overall goals and objectives” said Paul.  “Does he know what those are?” I inquired. “Well, he should”, Paul, answered.  I wondered (silently) if anyone had ever shared those with Barry. Continue reading Barry- The Executioner