What is revealing about Minow’s story is that she told it less than two months after Kagan’s appointment and before the start of the fall semester. It was credible not because Minow had had an opportunity to canvass the faculty, many of whom were on vacation, but because she had worked with Kagan and was generally acknowledged to be a person who picked her words carefully. Continue reading “Seed Storytelling Opportunities (3)”
You want to draw a curtain around that chaos. You don’t want people to know about it. You want their first response to be: “Boy, Andrea really whipped the department into shape.“
Soon after Andrea moved into her office, she identified a few well-connected people who could be her eyes and ears. Good listeners, networked to multiple layers of the political and business communities, they reached out to Andrea’s “customers.” They effectively backstopped her and gave her unfiltered perspectives, which she might not have elicited in personal interviews. Continue reading “Seed Storytelling Opportunities (2)”
All the moves to mobilize backers aim to build perceptions of you as a credible leader with the authority and legitimacy to get the work—whatever it is—done. Those perceptions are given voice by the stories that people tell about you in the early days of your tenure. One of the participants in the informal survey we noted at the beginning of this chapter was on the right track when she said, “After three months, I want people to say Ann is okay.” Of course, you want people to believe that what you are doing is okay. But situations can be confusing in the early months. Chaos, rather than order, can reign. There is a great deal of Continue reading “Seed Storytelling Opportunities”
Susan resisted this call, arguing that it would generate unnecessary animosity and make her job even harder. She pressed for a more auspicious introduction, and they reached a compromise: a dinner for all the consultants assigned to the region. Continue reading “Have Key Leaders Make the Case (8)”
He sends out frequent reminders about the importance, to an India-centric organization, of developing good relations with Wall Street. Whenever I make a presentation at an analyst meeting, he circulates an update.
In advertising Layla’s accomplishments, the CEO validated her and this vote of confidence in turn made her job easier. Continue reading “Have Key Leaders Make the Case (7)”
At the same time, the chairman used the appointment to send a clear message to the firm’s institutional clients. He had selected Jane, in part, for her sterling reputation. In talks with institutional clients and in interviews with the business press, he stressed the appointment’s symbolic importance. The firm was committed to future growth and would draft the best talent around to manage that growth. The appointment did, in fact, go a long way toward reassuring institutional investors, and their reaction, in turn, gave Jane added leverage within the firm. Continue reading “Have Key Leaders Make the Case (6)”
Before coming officially on board, Jane worked closely with the chairman. With little sense of urgency, one major player—the head of sales—had to be convinced not only that the change was necessary but also that Jane could pull it off.
In the investment field there’s an inevitable tension between sales and the client relationship people. The people in sales want to make the sale and move on to the next one. Continue reading “Have Key Leaders Make the Case (5)”
Roberta could never have made this case. The CIO had to deliver the message that business as usual within the division would no longer be tolerated. His reputation and influence positioned him to link Roberta’s assignment to larger corporate goals that made change imperative. His backing, expressed in plain terms, gave her the clout to get things going. Beyond that, it explicitly sanctioned the policies she would need to implement over time. Roberta was charged with transforming deeply entrenched perceptions about the division and equally entrenched behaviors within the division. Justification for that transformation had to come from the top. Continue reading “Have Key Leaders Make the Case (4)”
Insist on Strategic Linkages. Students of leadership increasingly draw a distinction between management and leadership. They suggest that managers concentrate on the present, on day-to-day problems, while leaders look to the future, setting goals and assembling the building blocks to achieve them. [15] If they are reading the topography right, then key leaders have a critical responsibility when they make important appointments. Only they can tie the assignment to the organization’s strategic vision. They have a built-in platform to articulate what needs to be done to get things moving and why you are the best person to accomplish that task. Continue reading “Have Key Leaders Make the Case (3)”
Grace, hired by the CEO of a real estate development company as his first vice president of administration, got a chilly reception when she showed up for work. The CEO had announced the appointment in a management meeting with a quick mention. He then circulated blanket e-mail to the rest of the organization. It was abundantly clear to Grace that this minimal introduction “wasn’t enough.” Continue reading “Have Key Leaders Make the Case (2)”