The New School

Don't be a Hero!

2011-05-03T22:56:00.000+05:30

Well yes! Don't be a hero when you are not needed to act like one. This sounds counter intuitive doesn't it? But in reality more and more people are developing a myopic view of the situation that they are in leading to a bigger problem in the future. When I speak to people around me at work, in personal life and in friend circles, there are umpteen examples of how some people are extending themselves to be seen as a heroes and impacting the long term relations, work environment and personal spaces.

So is this a problem? Are we not always told stories of heroes fighting the crusade? Are we not supposed to be the Robin Hoods? I think there is an underlying problem if you are not careful about choosing your crusades. More leaders are engaging in these battles across organizations, everyone is looking for a cause - even if one does not exist. These leaders then cause disengagement with employees who are driving positive outcomes but get caught up in these battles. There is a huge drain on productivity and impact on interpersonal relationships in most of these situations.

How does this hero look like?

- S/he will be seen involved in a zillion things happening around, almost to the level of being intrusive
- S/he will question everything around her immediate space and not connect the dots to the bigger picture
- S/he is never genuine, will be sarcastic in conversations and has a negative outlook

So what can we do?
- First, do not try to be such a hero!
- Secondly, do not ignore such situations if you are caught up in one and tactfully voice your opinion to the right stakeholders
- Lastly, if tact does not work and you are still caught up move on. Do not attempt to solve something that need not be solved, it is wiser to move on and not get converted to a Hero!

Thank You. Alice

2010-04-25T02:33:00.000+05:30

Sitting in the JFK airport reflecting on my 12 day trip in the US. One thing that stood out so clearly was the focus on 'Guest Service' in US, in some cases it will almost make you feel pampered. I want to share one such experience here, from Zelos an upmarket restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. This was my second visit to this restaurant and coincidentally I had the same person, an experienced lady in her late forties serve me. She was extremely courteous, explained the dishes on the menu and was very prompt in service (and the pizza I ordered was DELICOUS!!). And then when I signalled for my check, she promptly gave it to me and it had at the bottom. "Thank You, Alice". Walking back to the hotel this note kept flashing in front of me, it was a busy weekend, other guests were waiting to get a seat at the table and here is someone who is thoughtful enough to take a few seconds and write a note to you, with a pen, actually write it. Not automate it, not get it printed, taking time out to write it. It was a 'walking the extra mile' moment that I wish many of us would do for our clients, guests and families. They now have a fan for life in me.

Creating Happiness!

2010-01-03T22:36:00.000+05:30

A Very Happy New Year !

2010 reassured my belief in the good that exists in this world, first hand :)

Here is the story of my experience - we were getting out of the parking in a mall and right outside the gate, the road was dug up. As I took a sharp turn to pick my my family waiting by the side, the left front Tyre went in a pothole and the suspension on the uneven road left the tyre hanging in the hole and I was stuck. I could hear a shriek from my family and I flung open the door and ran out to assess the damage. Luckily, only the car was stuck, however it was difficult to even use a jack to pull up the car. As I started feeling desperate for help, three people emerged from the crowd and started helping and guiding me, there was a lot of mud, they did not bother and started to lift the car by bare hands !!! Well that was tough, and then one of them disappeared in the shadows and emerged with a long wooden log, they inserted the log under the car, used a stone as fulcrum and asked me to get behind the wheel. They were joined by two more men and then in the next 30 secs they lifted the log and my car was pushed on the road.

As I was getting ready to step out and thank them, they disappeared in the crowd :), the one who brought the log was standing there and I thanked him many times and started reaching for my wallet and he said 'No problem saar' and started waving his hand gesturing me to move on.

Well, it was such a pleasant experience for me and my family, strengthening our belief that there is still humanity and 'Humans' out there who will step out to help and 'Create Happiness'.

Do you have any such experiences to share? I would love to hear and publish them for all to know about the 'Happiness' you felt.

Long Distance Swimmer or Deep Water Diver - Part II

2009-11-08T22:02:00.000+05:30

Continuing the discussion,

3) Be General - When you move from managing your performance to managing performance of others, one important aspect is to build a wider view of the world around you. More often than not the team looks up at their leader to not only help them decipher their immediate challenges, but other factors impacting their goals in the long run. Some steps for you to help and grow in this area - Build your network with leaders in the organization, understand industry trends, learn about finance and HR, understand implications of talent and finance on your organization. I am not talking anything about your domain or results in that area, that to me is a given. One source of great insights of being general or demonstrating common sense is Bud Bilianich - The Common Sense Guy do spend some time reading him.

4) Play on your strengths - Lastly, by this time you would have anchored your career. Whether it is industry (Retail, Telecom, Aerospace) , skill (Java, Pay and Benefits) or function (HR, Finance, IT) is not the point but be sure you have the anchor in place. This is the time to go swim and swim real long distances. This is where you leadership comes to play and not so much the domain. Your strengths should be what you must play on, if you are the leader who can be a change leader, go jump into roles that give you an opportunity to play on that. Don't bother if you have been the Finance expert and the next role for you is the CIO, rather ask for such challenges.

However, like I always tell people - success is relative, so there is never a right or wrong. Both the options can be followed to be successful. At the end of the day it is important to smile.
Create Happiness.

Long Distance Swimmer or Deep Water Diver - Part I

2009-10-10T14:37:00.000+05:30

"Should I move into a new role laterally and start over again or wait in this role to get promoted?" sounds familiar? I heard this question for the third time in the last 2 months. How many times have you asked that question to your manager. Every time I came across a situation like that I asked myself, 'What do you want to do with your life (or career)? Do you want to be a deep sea diver or a long distance swimmer?" While the decision is different for each individual, here are some points to think about -

Build depth in one area - Whatever career you chose, make sure that you have one bedrock skill/competency or area of expertise that you will be a master at.This could be a life saver in the long run. If it is Talent Acquisition, then ensure that you have understood every aspect of it, right from manpower planning, financial budgeting to system solutions. For this you may have to do couple of rotations in TA functions itself.
Look In or Look Out - Once you are confident of developing confidence in that One area of expertise. Look around and see what makes sense as the next step. Start with upstream and downstream processes, look for areas where you can leverage your expertise within your own function. I am not suggesting looking out of your organization, I mean looking outside your core area of expertise. Because whichever path you choose there will be learning and challenges.

Building Successful Careers is like finding Water on Moon!

2009-09-28T22:06:00.000+05:30

Yes, now water from moon is possible.

The newspaper on 25th September was a collectors edition. We find water on moon! Yes, I read the small print that there are no lakes and oceans yet but, " Very fine films of water on dust particles on lunar surface". Also, “The real significance of this mission is that it surveyed the entire Moon. Nasa’s Apollo manned missions between 1969 and 1972 did not find any water at all because they surveyed only a bare 25% of the lunar surface.’’
40 years to discover water on moon and many more to reach a stage where we can use this discovery for the benefit of humankind.What a nice way to think of careers and success:)

Success is all about discovery and more importantly self discovery.

Taking an inventory is not enough - Look deep and wide, check with friends, peers, directs and your manager. Validate what you listen, look for examples and patterns.
Do not jump into a long list of actions - Take a deep breath, prioritize what works for your current role and business needs, do not lose sight of the rest, start making small action items and measure the results
Find a coach/mentor - Very important step to build a successful career. Find someone who you are comfortable sharing your challenges, listen and ask a lot of questions. This will help you and the coach understand the real areas of opportunity. A nice article here gives you some good tips on coaching.
You will need to persevere - 'Each to his Own', what works for someone else may not work for you. Success may mean trial and error, the lower your errors higher will be your self confidence and closer will you be from your target.

And, it has taken 40 years for us to find water on moon. I am sure you will take much less in finding and building your career.

A Flyover, A speed breaker and HR

2009-07-23T21:00:00.000+05:30

It was an interesting observation when I was traveling to office today, 10 miles from my house. The drive to office has many speed breakers and 2 fly overs, every time I come to a speed breaker I curse the person who came up with the idea and bless the genius who thought of a flyover ( I am sure my car would be doing the same). So how is this connected to HR? Here is how I look at the need to build more flyovers and remove the speed breakers by the HR team. And to understand this better we need to look at some basics,

A speed breaker is put on the road to stop people who do not drive safely, it is a means to drive compliance to the rules/guidelines. However, if you look deeper there would be approximately 10% of drivers who actually drive rash and 90% drive carefully, but they have to put up with these bumpy roadblocks to drive compliance. The big question is, does it really? The 10% will still continue to drive rash and maybe for sometime be compliant, but they will never be 'Committed' to drive safely!
I relate this to a many HR policies in organizations that are focused on driving compliance but not commitment. Policies that are put in place to stop the 10% of issues from happening but 90% of others getting inconvenienced and demotivated.

On the other side, I love the idea of a flyover.

It considers all constraints around it and finds a way to rise above the constraints and allows smooth flow. However, it takes time, effort and and some initial pain to build a flyover. But at the end of the efforts you get a smooth flow of 100% of the traffic, and this drives the need of sane driving.

Beat It!

2009-07-19T00:57:00.000+05:30

This is a picture that I clicked with my HTC Viva on a busy Bangalore road. What you see in the picture is when this rider just about avoided falling down and hitting another car on the road. This was right after a crossing and there was a policeman standing 100 meters to the left of this picture (for the uninitiated Viva is a cell phone hence I could not zoom in or out to the desired level) and was least bothered by the hazard this foolhardy motorcyclist posed to people on the road. This was a great example of the 'Its OK' attitude that you see around all the time. Can you beat it!

This also reminded me of some good talent discussions that I have had in my experience. Leaders make heroes of their people who in their minds carry the load of the team, a lot of times without realizing how these heroes are causing all kinds of accidents (poor decisions) in their teams because they want to carry the entire load with just one of their trusted lieutenants. (see the brave heart sitting on the pillion on this motorcycle)

In my mind it is your responsibility to avoid such situations in the organization,

- make sure that you do not have team members who are driving a personal agenda, all decisions need to be taken with the bigger picture in mind
- You will never be able to grow your talent unless you are ready to give them an opportunity to make mistakes
- You need to worry about the how part of the results and not only the end result
- You must make sure that the results have not caused any 'damage' to the team on the way

I hope the man reached safely to his destination and also allowed others to reach theirs! Please do not try this on the road or in your teams.

Amazing Truth!

2009-07-15T18:11:00.000+05:30

An amazing story of what one person can do to change the world. We all get entangled in making a BIG change to the world one fine day and a lot of time that day arrives in our life when we ourselves do not have energy or enthusiasm (post retirement). This is a great story of one person who is making efforts make things right in his own small world!

Suvendu Roy of Titan Industries shares his inspirational encounter with a rickshaw driver in Mumbai:

Last Sunday, my wife, kid, and I had to travel to Andheri from Bandra. When I waved at a passing auto rickshaw, little did I expect that this ride would be any different. As we set off, my eyes fell on a few magazines (kept in an aircraft style pouch) behind the driver's back rest. I looked in front and there was a small TV. The driver had put on the Doordarshan channel.

My wife and I looked at each other with disbelief and amusement. In front of me was a small first-aid box with cotton, dettol and some medicines. This was enough for me to realise that I was in a special vehicle. Then I looked round again, and discovered more - there was a radio, fire extinguisher, wall clock, calendar, and pictures and symbols of all faiths - from Islam and Christianity to Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism. There were also pictures of the heroes of 26/11- Kamte, Salaskar, Karkare and Unnikrishnan. I realised that not only my vehicle, but also my driver was special.

I started chatting with him and the initial sense of ridicule and disbelief gradually diminished. I gathered that he had been driving an auto rickshaw for the past 8-9 years; he had lost his job when his employer's plastic company was shut down. He had two school-going children, and he drove from 8 in the morning till 10 at night. No break unless he was unwell.

We realised that we had come across a man who represents Mumbai – the spirit of work, the spirit of travel and the spirit of excelling in life. I asked him whether he does anything else as I figured that he did not have too much spare time. He said that he goes to an old age home for women in Andheri once a week or whenever he has some extra income, where he donates tooth brushes, toothpastes, soap, hair oil, and other items of daily use. He pointed out to a painted message below the meter that read: "25 per cent discount on metered fare for the handicapped. Free rides for blind passengers up to Rs. 50.”

My wife and I were struck with awe. The man was a HERO! A hero who deserves all our respect. Our journey came to an end; 45 minutes of a lesson in humility, selflessness, and of a hero-worshipping Mumbai, my temporary home. We disembarked, and all I could do was to pay him a tip that would hardly cover a free ride for a blind man.

I hope, one day, you too have a chance to meet Mr Sandeep Bachhe in his auto rickshaw: MH-02-Z-8508.

"I think it's a real education," says Mr. Welch

2009-07-13T00:25:00.001+05:30

'Real education' and that is what we need to make a big difference to our growing economy in India. As a nation we are churning out hundreds and thousands of engineers and graduates but how many of them are employable? There is a wide divide between getting education and real education and efforts like the Jack Welch MBA The Jack Welch MBA Coming to Web - WSJ.com will help attract a lot of attention to making education relevant and affordable.

The newly formed government in India seems to be brimming with confidence to bring about a change on several fronts,

- The proposed changes in the education system
- Promise to add more Nandan Nilekani's to the Govt. machinery
- The infrastructure projects and the other welfare schemes announced

What remains to be seen is, how does the govt. plan to plug the huge deficit? Fingers crossed!

Womens T20 World Cup and Perceptions

2009-06-20T11:26:00.000+05:30

We were preparing for an strategy session and asked for Hot Topics from the team, and one of the most passionately discussed topic was on Perception! There was a section of the team that believed leaders pay a lot of attention to perceptions and not so much to real performance. What has that got to do with Womens T20 World cup? A lots, as I was watching the match yesterday and really appreciating the game, my 2 boys walked in and commented..."girls playing cricket!", "change the channel it is so funny to watch girls play cricket." Now they are 7 and 9 years old and I was amazed at how they think . This to me is the reflection of what gets discussed in their classes, with their friends and simply how perceptions get built. A connected point to this is the entire effort to drive diversity (read Gender diversity) in India, if we do not make a concerted effort to change the perception across all ages we won't get be a great nation.
Hip, Hip, Hurray for the T20 womens team (specially Anjum Chopra who played some awesome strokes), even though they lost the game, they played a fantastic game.

Speaking Up Helps!

2008-12-25T23:08:00.000+05:30

It was a nice experience today to get a revert on a suggestion sent to Cleartrip.com (A travel portal I am a big fan of). I needed to book a ticket early in the morning and I tried their 'Toll Free' number, no one answered the 5 phone calls that I made, it just rang, rang and rang. And disconnected. Well I was upset and tried a new portal that advertised in the paper today and it was the same experience. So I logged on to the net and booked my ticket on Cleartrip, very reluctantly I send feedback to them about my experience and told them that they almost lost me as a customer (thanks to lousy competition). And voila, I received an email from their customer service team in about 2 hours, apologizing and confirming that they have taken steps to rectify the problem. That was just amazing responsiveness.

I am not surprised that they are growing each day. One of the key attributes of any professional service firm is responsiveness, whether the solution is given immediately or after a definite time period we need to get back in time with an answer. Even 'No' or 'Not possible now' is an answer that customers expect. I wish all service providers learn a thing from these folks!

Mumbai Blasts - Time to Reflect!

2008-11-30T16:56:00.000+05:30

The past 4 days have been the most horrific. While I am not naming any country to be responsible, any country or its people cannot live with so much of hatred without succumbing to it in the long term.

I feel this event has left a deep scar on every Indian, we all should stand together and pray for the families of people who have lost their lives and livelihood.

As I sat through these days, glued to the TV scanning through newspapers, a thought occurred to me on How momentary our lives are!. Some things ought to change for all of us, at least for me. I will

Smile more
Spend (quality) time with family
Connect with friends and loved ones
Reach out and help, as much as possible and as far as I can reach
Thank God for all the good things in life

I am sure we do not have time for anger, ego and hatred!

All Things Workplace: The Language of Leadership and Influence

2008-10-01T11:09:00.000+05:30

We all love to play to 'Good Boy' in any situation. The fine line that differentiates leaders from managers is the stance that you take on topics of importance. While it is foolhardy to stick to ones opinion at all times, but we must have the courage to stick to our convictions. My personal credo on this has been ----

'Don't let go too soon, but don't hang in for too long'

Steve illustrates this with great simplicity in his article.

I wish all of you are able to draw a 'Straight Line'!

All Things Workplace: The Language of Leadership and Influence

Picture of Earth in The Cosmos

2007-07-29T23:35:00.001+05:30

This made me stop and think. Wow!!

If all world were around me where would I be?

If you look carefully at the NASA photo below, you will see a little white dot. This minute speck is Earth seen from the Voyager 1 spacecraft as it exits the solar system, nearly 4 billion miles away. The photo was taken back in 1990. Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there–on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam..

You can also hear this on a remarkable video on You Tube by Carl Sagan - The Pale Blue Dot

A Brand called You

2007-07-29T22:48:00.001+05:30

clipped from www.fastcompany.com

It's a new brand world.

What makes You different?

What's the pitch for You?

What's the real power of You?

What's loyalty to You?

What's the future of You?

No matter what you're doing today, there are four things you've got to measure yourself against. First, you've got to be a great teammate and a supportive colleague. Second, you've got to be an exceptional expert at something that has real value. Third, you've got to be a broad-gauged visionary -- a leader, a teacher, a farsighted "imagineer." Fourth, you've got to be a businessperson -- you've got to be obsessed with pragmatic outcomes.

It's this simple: You are a brand. You are in charge of your brand. There is no single path to success. And there is no one right way to create the brand called You. Except this: Start today. Or else.

It's time for me -- and you -- to take a lesson from the big brands, a lesson that's true for anyone who's interested in what it takes to stand out and prosper in the new world of work.

How to Win Office Politics?

2007-07-14T21:14:00.000+05:30

Politics - Webster defines it as,
"the total complex of relations between people living in society and relations or conduct in a particular area of experience especially as seen or dealt with from a political point of view" for example "Office Politics"

This would possibly be the #1 questions amongst middle management professionals. I recently read in a post in one of the forums that I am part of, where the writer with 25 years of corporate experience narrated her experiences and conclusion that people succeed when they know how to play this game. Or do they?

You could look around you and will find the reality. It is true that it works for some people, and for some it just does not matter. However, here is a post from bNet on "How To Win Office Politics"

A few 'Tips" on what you need to succeed in this game are here, courtesy bNet,

Thirty bucks - every few weeks for the occasional lunch with a colleague to build and maintain relationships.

An hour a week, give or take, for coffee breaks, lunches, and impromptu chats in the hallway — time for you to offer help, ask for it, or socialize with people whose relationships you value.

Game Plan: Know what you want to accomplish now and down the road, so you can tie the work you do — and the alliances you forge — to those goals.

Allies: Find the people who will listen to your ideas and support your ambitions. Remember: those with the power to help you may be peers or support staff.

Chits: Before you can ask your allies for favors, you first need to give them genuine support. What skills, insights, or information can you offer that will have real value to them?

Thick Skin: People may try to block your goals to advance their own. Don't take it personally. They're probably not out to get you — they're just out to save themselves.

No more hushed whispers on who play the game...if you can't win them join them!
Lets play the game to win!

Customer Service!

2007-07-08T22:11:00.000+05:30

On Friday I was traveling to Chennai from Delhi. My last visit to Chennai was disastrous, I could not understand a single word of Tamil language and no one understood Hindi, English was the only solace which I used along with sign language. My ride from the airport to the Taj was hilarious and expensive (I paid almost 2 times what I should have paid)

This time around I did not want to risk this experience and hopped on to a prepaid taxi. The driver was very courteous, but the ride was no less than a roller coaster ride. And my heart was in my mouth!!

Well what has this go to do with Customer Service...well then you must hear this. After I finished my work, I had a good 6 hours to kill before my flight back. So I asked the auto driver to take me to a mall. He hardly understood, only word he understood was 'shopping', so he promptly took me to a 'Singapore 2000' which was closed for lunch. Then he said, "Puruswakam, ...shopping...time pass" so i asked him how much distance, with my hands furiously pointing to the road and up and down. '3 KM' came the reply, I said 'go' and in 30 Min's he brought me to 'Abirami Mall'.

I spent 2 hours walking around, and thought of heading back to the airport. I asked for the direction of the airport and got two conflicting directions. Then I enteredd a supermarket, to buy some chocolates for my Children. After that I asked the billing desk person, 'which way to the airport'. She sweetly smiled and uttered something is quick Tamil and the office boy appeared from the back of the rack. He escorted my to the road asked me to wait, and went ahead to fetch an auto. There was one standing just outside and asking for Rs. 200/-. I ask this person, 'Is he asking OK' he mentioned something in Tamil, i understood that as no as he was shaking his head. Then he went a 100 metres ahead asking me to wait, and came back with an auto, telling me 'Pay Rs.180/-...my friend..the auto man'

And he walked back to the store as I thanked him. Well now that is what I call Customer Service. I reached the airport on time, and thanked the sweet chap for all he did.

Outsourced Homework!

2007-07-01T22:31:00.000+05:30

We have read about how the east is developing into a behemoth riding on the wave of outsourcing. In fact some of the articles are now talking of individuals outsourcing their work. This is an interesting phenomenon, children across the world are taking tuition's from teachers logging in from Chennai in a small 1 bed room apartment! For people who want to see the Freelance market place of Guru.com click here

I am sure this is the new wave, well what surprised me the most today, when I was preparing my kids to go back to school starting tomorrow.

They had quite interesting and creative set of 'Holiday' home work to complete, and guess what we found..we could not only outsource but find 'Ready Made' home work for their classes. Isn't that just shocking...whatever happened to making the child do it him/her self? Introduced by our neighbor, we found this place completely packed 9AM to 9PM with anxious parents queuing up to get the home work done. The children by the way or on an XBox or the Internet.

The professionalism in their work is just outstanding...they download the complete homework from the sites of the schools and prepare multiple sets of the same homework ready...just so no 2 students land up with the same work. They also leave some of the work pending for parents to add a touch of ingenuity!

The most interesting aspect of this discovery for me has been the entrepreneurial spirit of the folks doing this work. Kudos to them..but god bless the kids who go to school with the 'home work.'

Brand You!

2007-06-30T17:25:00.000+05:30

This has been a topic of interest for people through their career roadmap. The 'rat race' or the 'work where my skills are used, developed'. Tom brings out this challenge really well in this discussion and also helps people understand the steps they can take to be Build a Brand called you!

Read on and have fun. Tom is one of my favorite writes...very bold and pragmatic. You can also read his blog here.

The Art of Influencing Up

2007-01-22T12:41:00.000+05:30

One of the most respected thinkers of our times that I follow religiously, Marshal Goldsmith, shares invaluable thoughts around Influencing Up! NJoy!

The best ideas don't matter if no one pays attention. Here's how you can improve the odds of your boss taking your suggestions by Marshall Goldsmith

"Great wisdom not applied to action and behavior is meaningless data."—Peter Drucker
Knowledge workers are people who know more about what they are doing than their boss does. My guess is that you, like most of my readers, are a knowledge worker. Many knowledge workers (especially those with technical backgrounds) have years of education and experience that enable them to come up with great ideas.
Yet this same group has almost no training in how to "influence up" and ensure that their great ideas actually get accepted. Great ideas that are never implemented don't make much of an impact on the organization.
The guidelines listed below are intended to help you do a better job of influencing your upper management. They won't always ensure your success, but they will definitely improve your odds!
•Take responsibility. Think like a salesperson—not a technician.
In many ways, influencing up is similar to selling products or services to external customers. They don't have to buy—you have to sell!
Any good salesperson takes responsibility for achieving results. No one is impressed with salespeople who blame their customers for not buying their products. When making your pitch, treat upper managers like great salespeople treat their customers.
While the importance of taking responsibility may seem obvious in external sales, an amazing number of people in large corporations spend countless hours blaming management for not buying their ideas, as opposed to blaming themselves for not selling those ideas. If more time were spent on developing our ability to present ideas and less on blaming management, a lot more might get accomplished.
•Focus on the big picture—not just what's in it for you.
An effective salesperson would never say to a customer: "You need to buy this product, because if you don't, I won't achieve my objectives!"
Effective salespeople relate to the needs of the buyers. They don't expect buyers to relate to their needs. In the same way, effective "upward influencers" relate to the larger needs of the organization, not just to the needs of their unit or team.
When influencing up, focus on the impact of the decision on the overall corporation. In most cases, the needs of the unit and the needs of the corporation are directly connected. In some cases, this connection isn't so obvious. Don't assume that executives will automatically make the connection between the benefit to your unit and significant, positive impact for the larger corporation.
•Strive to win the big battles. Don't waste your energy and psychological capital on trivial points.
An executive's time is very limited. Do a thorough analysis of your ideas before challenging the system. Don't waste time on issues that will only have a negligible impact on results. Focus on issues that will make a real difference. Be willing to lose on small points.
Be especially sensitive to the need to win trivial, nonbusiness arguments on things like restaurants, sports teams, or cars. People become more annoyed with us for having to be "right" on trivia than our need to be right on important business points. You are paid to do what makes a difference and to win on important issues. You are not paid to win arguments on the relative quality of athletic teams.
•Present a realistic cost-benefit analysis of your ideas. Don't just sell benefits.
Every organization has limited resources, time, and energy. The acceptance of your idea may well mean the rejection of another idea that someone else believes is wonderful. Be prepared to have a realistic discussion of the costs of your idea. Acknowledge the fact that someone else's cause may have to be sacrificed in order to have your plan implemented.
By getting ready for a realistic discussion of costs, you can prepare for objections to your idea before they occur. You can acknowledge the sacrifice that someone else may have to make and point out how the benefits of your plan outweigh the costs.
•Realize that your upper managers are just as "human" as you are. Don't say, "I am amazed that someone at this level…"
It is realistic to expect upper managers to be competent; it is unrealistic to expect them to be better than normal humans. Is there anything in the history of the human species indicating that when people achieve high levels of status, power, and money they become instantly wise and logical (or even sane)?
How many times have we thought: "I would assume someone at this level…" followed by "should know what is happening," "should be more logical," "wouldn't make that kind of mistake," or "would never engage in such inappropriate behavior"?
Even the best of leaders are human. We all make mistakes. When your managers make mistakes, focus more on helping them than on judging them.
•Make a positive difference. Don't just try to "win" or "be right."
We can easily become more focused on what others are doing wrong than on how we can make things better. An important guideline in influencing up is to always remember your goal—to make a positive difference for the organization.
Corporations are different from academic institutions. In a university the goal may be sharing ideas, not having an impact on the world. In faculty meetings, hours of acrimonious debate on obscure topics can be perfectly normal.
In a corporation, sharing ideas without having an impact is worse than useless. It is a waste of the stockholders' money and a distraction from serving customers.
When I was interviewed in the Harvard Business Review, I was asked: "What is the most common area for improvement for the leaders that you meet?" My answer was "winning too much."
Focus on making a difference. The more other people can "be right" or "win" with your idea, the more likely your idea is to be successfully executed.
In summary, think of the years that you have spent perfecting your craft. Think of all of the knowledge that you have accumulated. Think about how your knowledge can potentially benefit your organization.
How much energy have you invested in acquiring all of this knowledge? How much energy have you invested in learning to present this knowledge so that you can make a real difference? My hope is that by making a small investment in learning how to influence up, you can make a large, positive difference for the future of your organization—and the future of your career.
For greater detail see, "Effectively Influencing Up"in Leading Organizational Learning, Goldsmith, Morgan and Ogg eds., Jossey-Bass, 2004.