Last year I was appointed to a national leadership
role for a niche technology-driven solution set at my Firm. This marked a career first for me and
dovetailed nicely with the final stages of my application to the MBA program at
Columbia Business School; and as it is an area in which I maintain a high
degree of technical proficiency, it was also a great career fit. The period that has followed has been one of
remarkable personal growth and unexpected challenges. As I reflect on what our team has
accomplished and the tremendous opportunities ahead of us, I can distill much
of it down to five pearls of wisdom which I attempt to use as guiding beacons
each day.
1. Integrity and execution define your professional
value –
Think about an unscrupulous executive who exceeds his numbers by 55%, but only at
the price of leaving behind a trail of dead bodies and mountains of shredded trust. Or to the contrary, imagine the most sincere,
kind, analytical thinker who – out of “analysis paralysis” or the fear of even
slightly offending – is simply incapable of driving urgently needed
change. More so than perhaps any other
two attributes, it is the balance of your personal integrity and your capability
to execute which drives your professional value to any organization. Lack either and you will quickly lose the
confidence of your customers and your team.
2. Good memories are fleeting; negatives ones, nearly
eternal – It
takes continuous hard work to cultivate and sustain trust, but precious little
time to eradicate it. Many years of
delivering exceptional, above-and-beyond service to a key customer may wash
away like seashells at high tide by one failed project or one critical
deliverable of poor quality. See the
above point regarding integrity and execution.
I’ve found a key barometer of the effectiveness of senior leadership in
this regard is whether quality controls in an organization are more attuned to
senseless internal bureaucracy and bare compliance with regulatory standards,
or are focused instead on seamlessly and consistently delivering a delightful
customer experience.
3. Adopt a “buck stops here” mentality – even if the
buck doesn’t – Unless
your job title includes the word “chief” and you have a seat on the executive committee
of your company, it is unlikely that the buck truly stops with you when it comes
to decision-making and service delivery.
And even the most powerful chief executives can’t control factors such
as the weather or mechanical failure which may have an adverse impact on
customer service. However, this does not
– and should not – prevent you from going above and beyond, from getting your
hands dirty, and from being highly creative to ensure that the areas under your
responsibility operate as a well-oiled machine.
While in undergraduate, I briefly worked in inbound telemarketing as a
call center representative (a great job for college students, by the way.) It always amazed me how many of my fellow
reps would seemingly go out of their way to avoid helping a customer if the needed
solution required even an iota of “above and beyond” exertion. We have all had the experience of dealing
with people in customer service who seem to believe that we, as customers,
should be thankful to have the privilege of a few minutes of their time. Have those interactions ever made you want to
continue to patronize an establishment?
4. You’re (almost certainly) not as good of a
communicator as you think – For as long as I can remember – going back
to winning public speech competitions well before turning 10 – I’ve had a
certain way with words. I’m bilingual, my
qualitative scores on standardized tests such as the SAT and GMAT have always
hovered in the 95 – 99th percentiles, and people often say that my
regionally neutral American baritone would be well-suited for radio. And yet, I have an incredibly long journey to
complete before I will be able to truly communicate at the level of a polished
corporate executive. When I first
started as a consultant fresh out of undergrad, this came as a bit of harsh
news to me. I contrived every sort of excuse
imaginable (“…people have short attention spans and aren’t listening to me!...”)
to explain why my messages often did not go over as well as I thought they
would. The simple reality was that I had
much to learn: how effective listening
is the key to effective speaking; the critical importance of nonverbal
communication; the subtleties of context only observable by wise eyes; and on
and on. I keep those lessons close to
heart today when communicating with my key stakeholders, whether internal team
members or clients.
5. Your inner circle will drive or destroy your success
– How
solid are your relationships with the people one level above and below you on
the org chart? One of the first lessons
any individual promoted into a management position quickly learns is that the
cohesion and operating effectiveness of your inner circle is possibly the
single biggest determinant of your overall success from an operational
standpoint. Studies of management and
organizational effectiveness have demonstrated that as one becomes more senior
in an organization and acquires increasing levels of responsibility, one’s core
network tends to “shrink” around an extremely close knit coterie of key teammates,
even if one’s overall network will likely broaden (think of the classic “White
House bubble” lamented by many different Presidents.) When I look at the success that our team has
achieved over the last year, I can honestly say that none of it would have been
possible without a few dedicated, superbly qualified individuals with a talent
and a passion for delivering exceptional client service. I cannot overemphasize the value of those
individuals to my own continued career success; the time spent engaging them in
conversation, learning from them, and coaching them is among the most valuable
real estate on my calendar.
Note: The opinions expressed in this and all Bizteck articles are exclusively those of the author and do not express any implicit or explicit endorsement by any of his current or previous employers.
Note: The opinions expressed in this and all Bizteck articles are exclusively those of the author and do not express any implicit or explicit endorsement by any of his current or previous employers.