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executive
management So
You Want the President's Job . . . Getting
caught listening may not be indispensable
for a great career or rapid advances in
management, but it is the common
denominator in promotions to the top
job. How
do people get promoted to CEO? Why will
one of your colleagues bepassed over on
the road to the presidency of your company
when another,with seemingly no better
qualifications, gets the promotion? Is
there acommon denominator to these career
advancements--one you can use toimprove
your business? To find out, we surveyed
presidents, CEOs, board members, and top
executives in a variety of companies and
nonprofit organizations, asking them what
they looked for in a presidential
promotion and then asking them what
actually occurred in their firms.
Clearly,
the skills that would be desirable in the
founder of a start-up would not be the
same as those a board of directors would
look for in choosing the head of a more
mature company. More often than not new
presidents are selected from within the
firm--a promotion without a visible
search. We focused our attentions there.
From among our findings we can present
several suggestions for executives,
including: -
what you can do to increase your chances
of promotion to CEO; -
how, as CEO, you can make it easier for
someone to advance (and thereby gain an
even better and more productive manager
for yourself); -
how you might increase your effectiveness
as president; -
steps to take as a founder to increase
your ability to manage a larger company;
and All
these suggestions are methods of
managerial self-improvement that stem from
one crucial quality. The common
characteristic we discovered--the "magic"
factor shared by all the top managers we
interviewed--is a pervasive and quietly
effective way of catching the high regard
of those who make CEOs. Better yet, it is
a trait that can be learned and adapted.
The
Most Common Denominator In
talking to executives, we found that the
common denominator for being promoted was
not skill or experience. You probably know
several examples of top executives put in
place who possessed neither. You
also might expect that most CEOs come from
specific disciplines. We found, however,
that more than one or two jobs lie on the
path to the top. All the CEOs had strong
line experience, but not just in, say,
sales or manufacturing. Although most
human resource managers or CIOs will not
get promoted, executives from finance,
sales, marketing, manufacturing, service,
or engineering are all equal candidates.
Line experience, however, still is not the
common denominator. The
common factor that differentiated the
successful candidates for promotion was
this: The executive was seen as a person
who listens. Colleagues, bosses, and the
people who worked for such managers all
seemed to share this perception.
The
key is not that these executives listen,
but that others often perceive them as
good listeners. Many managers may listen
well, but those interacting with them may
not actually realize it. We use the phrase
"get caught listening" to highlight the
difference. It is not a pejorative. Some
people are noticeable when they listen.
"Getting caught" is in addition to just
listening; it is a behavior above and
beyond what we generally consider the
norm. Seeing
Listening in Action If
you seek promotion to the CEO's job, or if
you are evaluating someone for it, the
best chance for success comes when others
think of you or the candidate as a
listener. Self-perception is not
important; what others notice is.
Consider
the recent transition of presidents at
Tandem Computers and UB Networks, both of
which are located near San Jose,
California. Roel Pieper left the chief
executive position at UB to become CEO of
Tandem, and Chris Brennan was promoted
from vice president and CFO at UB to its
president. Both appointments came quickly
and without a visible executive
search--just the way many would like to
get such a job. One
would be hard pressed to find a common
factor that links these two men but still
separates them from the senior executives
who were passed over. Although they both
know their markets and their businesses,
they have very different temperaments,
styles, and backgrounds. However,
people who deal directly with the new
presidents have noticed their ability to
listen--and be observed doing it. Sam
Boyd, a vice president who has reported to
each man, remarks, "You can tell Roel by
the time he gives. He clearly interacts
with you on the material." As for Brennan,
Boyd states, "Chris [can be seen]
listening carefully to customers, field
people, employees. He is clearly working
at listening." Each person we interviewed
who knows these men maintained that a
trait common to both is the visibility of
their knack for listening. Brennan
himself notes, Every
leader imparts values to a company and
sets a tone. Setting the value system of
the company requires you to listen. If
your people do not sense that you hear
them, you are missing signs of a crisis.
Again,
merely listening is different from being
caught at it. Pieper's predecessor, Jimmy
Treybig--the man who founded and ran
Tandem Computers--is known for hearing
things people thought he had missed. Many
people have sat in meetings with him and
not known that he heard what they were
saying. It is a style that worked when
Treybig was getting Tandem started but
that could have prevented him from being
appointed to run the company he founded.
Kathryn
Fuller is the CEO of the million-member
World Wildlife Fund. She sits on board
committees that appoint chief executives.
In the search for the new president of the
Ford Foundation, she selected listening as
a reason for her choice. "I've worked with
many people who are creative but can't get
decisions to stick," she says. "They are
not good at making sure that information
flows. Listening is a huge part of that."
Being
caught listening cannot guarantee you will
get a promotion, or that you will do well
at a task. It's like table stakes: you use
it to get into the running for promotion
or success in less time. In our survey,
the executives most apt to be promoted
were the ones whom colleagues and
subordinates noticed were good listeners.
This
trait has an important and useful side
effect: it can make you a better
salesperson. In the past year, Brennan
sold UB to Newbridge, and Pieper sold
Tandem to Compaq--both at a healthy
premium. Listening:
The Reality versus the
Perception Some
managers confuse listening with getting
caught at it. At Tandem, the board passed
over some seemingly qualified candidates
for the position Pieper now occupies.
"Looking at some of my peers," says Jamie
Allen, a former general manager at Tandem,
"I have observed some terrible
communicators. I'm thinking of one vice
president. He heard, but he didn't tell
you he'd heard." Allen adds, "You can
overcome the lack of being a team player
through demonstrated results, but you
can't overcome that lack of being a good
communicator." The
value of listening is clear: You cannot
succeed in running a company if you do not
hear what your people, customers, and
suppliers are telling you. Poor listeners
do not survive. Listening and
understanding well are key to making good
decisions. Being
caught listening, though, has a different
value. It does not change the decisions
you make; it changes how the people around
you perceive you. That, in turn, affects
how they take and implement your
decisions. When people know you hear them,
they are more likely to hear you when you
respond with a decision or instruction. It
may not have been what they wanted to
hear, but they will nonetheless be more
likely to accept it. Hence, listening (or
active listening) is valuable for making
decisions; being caught listening is
valuable for making them stick.
Many
executives are good at taking in
information but fall short when it comes
to showing that. Can people who fit that
model start a successful company? Clearly
they can- and do. But can someone who is a
poor or even average communicator grow a
company successfully? This is less likely.
Is
it possible to be a good listener and not
get caught? Yes. Is it possible to be
caught as a good listener and not actually
be one? We don't think so. Although
many executives can listen well, few
consciously try to show it. Even fewer
intentionally try to teach it to others.
However, the skill of being caught
listening can be taught and learned.
Marius Abel, former senior vice president
and general manager at UB, has come to
demand it of his peers. When he wants it,
he gets it by asking questions. "I listen
to their feedback carefully," he explains,
"and I ask hard questions to make sure
they understand. If they don't ask a
question, I get in my ask mode."
When
he ran support for Tandem in Europe, Chris
Rooke, now a vice president of sales for
the company, often came across what he
calls "the wrong rock syndrome": A boss
says to a subordinate, "Get me a rock,"
but when the subordinate brings the rock,
the boss says, "No! Not that rock," and
the subordinate has to go back for another
one. This is an analogy of what happens
when one does not check for understanding.
No matter who was at fault in such cases,
Rooke's team was redoing work and wasting
time. By learning to ask questions, he
could check others' understanding--or lack
of it. It may take a few extra minutes,
but it can save hours later. How often
have you seen someone start down a road
only to find it's the wrong road? It can
cost a person precious time, and it can
cost a company time and other resources to
cover the loss. Ted
Antonitis, president and CEO of ONEAC
Corporation, believes that some people are
raised to be CEO whereas others are chosen
by circumstances. But, he says, part of
the process of getting there must be to
"logic-check everything with the help of
your team, encourage gaining wisdom, and
communicate the wisdom so that fundamental
knowledge is shared and becomes the basis
for decisions." A
Model Process Listening
is more than just waiting for your turn to
talk. Most business conversations fit the
model of what Swiss psychiatrist Paul
Tournier calls "dialogues of the deaf."
But the successful candidates for
promotion to CEO transcend this. So do the
best managers. They listen, and are good
at getting caught at it. You
can find many ways to get caught
listening. A simple and effective process
used by several executives has four steps:
-
Listen. -
Restate what you have heard. -
Empathize clearly. -
Offer the solution. 1.
Listening is both hard and easy. As we
rise higher and higher in companies, we
find it harder and harder to spare time
for listening, much less for being caught
at it. Yet there are more and more people
who want access to the CEO and who clamor
to be heard. If information is the key to
success for an executive, listening is the
first step to gathering that information.
A
key listening skill is to do it actively
and quietly. John Leopold, the former
executive director of the Santa Cruz AIDS
Project, a nationally known nonprofit
organization, saw what happened if he
interrupted stakeholders in the community:
he lost a lot of time. When he began to
listen without interrupting, he discovered
that meetings with constituencies became
shorter, not longer. "People want to feel
heard," he points out. "So you want to
ask: Can you leave [them] feeling
respected? They have to think they have a
voice." Active
listening can help. Use your face and body
to show that you hear and understand what
is being said. This can be as simple as
nodding or mirroring the speaker's
mannerisms. 2.
Restating is the key to getting caught
listening. When you repeat what you have
just been told, you move from a position
in which you may or may not hear what the
other person says to one in which you
actively try to hear it. You thereby
increase the comfort level of the
situation and project the image of
listening. Restating
can also guarantee that you are hearing
correctly. This is what Chris Rooke means
by his "wrong rock syndrome." Like many
other successful executives, Rooke says,
"I learned to listen and ask a question
for clarity. Reiterating was crucial in a
support environment." After all, is saving
time any less crucial in an executive
environment? Restating
may not show others that you understand,
but it will often show you that you do not
understand. You might discover that what
you thought you heard is not what the
other person meant for you to hear. This
can constitute another time saver, both
for you and your colleagues. Part
of restating is to ask whether you heard
correctly. When the person with whom you
are talking answers yes, you can move on
to being understood. Waiting for the "yes"
is important; if you get a "no" instead,
you must start over. Listen and restate
until you get a firm "yes." Otherwise, you
leave an impression of indifference toward
that person. You become one half of
Tournier's "dialogue of the deaf." Such an
impression will not enhance your chances
of winning the CEO's job or obtaining
information you may need in the future.
3.
Understanding and empathizing are more
than just hearing. Empathizing is a
combination of both the analytical and
feeling aspects of conversation--your head
and your gut. You may find that showing
empathy will be hard for you, or for the
person you are coaching. For some, this
represents the difference between
understanding and agreeing. Empathy
is not sympathy, nor is it agreement.
Agreeing with someone's views is not
necessary, but understanding them is.
Demonstrating that you understand a
concern is reasonable; you may then say
you don't agree with it. Most people skip
this, then have to go back later to gain a
better understanding. There
are a variety of techniques for showing
empathy. The easiest may be to say
something like, "That must feel terrible"
or "That would make me feel terrible."
Even better may be to ask, "And how does
that feel?" The key is to show that you
heard and understood. 4.
Offering a solution is the final step.
Once you have been caught listening, the
person will be waiting for an answer from
you. This is the best time to provide it.
Even if your solution is exactly the same
as it would have been to begin with, you
still have a much better chance of having
it accepted now than earlier. The
tendency for most of us is to offer a
solution immediately--to drive toward
solution. This may be the right thing to
do for fixing a computer or diagnosing an
engine. But people are not machines, and
managers who forget to keep that
distinction clear are not likely to get
the promotion to the top spot. To drive
toward solution may be traditional, but
the executives who are promoted to CEO try
to avoid doing this. An
Example How
does a president get caught listening? And
how can a CEO teach others the art? Dennis
Haar, president of Aspect
Telecommunications, unconsciously
demonstrated this recently with an
employee who had been passed over for
promotion. Haar knew Aspect wanted to keep
the manager, and he had a good idea of
what behaviors she needed to improve
before she could succeed at the next
level. Haar could have saved time by
suggesting that the manager change those
behaviors. Instead, he lengthened his
conversation with her, unconsciously
making sure she caught him listening
before he offered a solution. I
have watched Haar practice this, both
before and since his promotion. First, he
takes the time to restate the comments in
his own words. After restating, he asks if
he is right. Clearly willing to hear a
"no," he will try again until he gets it
right by the other person's definition.
After confirming that, he empathizes
aloud. Then he offers a solution.
His
careful message to the passed-over manager
was: "I can do all that for you if you
want. I can go see the right people for
you and talk to them. But here are some
things you must change or it won't work."
He used listening to keep her loyalty
while giving advice she needed but didn't
want to hear. By taking the time to use
this process, Haar increases the chances
of his being heard and understood. This
might save him a lot of time
later--perhaps in trying to change
someone's behavior, perhaps in working to
prevent a key manager from leaving.
If
You Are Already CEO What
should you do if you already are the
president? As CEO, you will be judged on
whom and how you promote. Those
appointments will be more likely to
succeed if the executives can get caught
listening. Teach your people--and
theirs--to listen and get caught at it.
For
many, the process of teaching and learning
is uncomfortable. Successful managers and
executives are accustomed to driving
toward solution, so asking them to stop
and get caught listening may seem
counterintuitive. Once they get the hang
of it, however, they usually do very well.
This is a model you can share as CEO. It
will bring benefits to you, your
employees, and your company. There
are risks. If executives become good at
this, they will be better candidates for
your job, or for the top job in a rival
firm. But if they are interested in
running a company anyway, all you have
done is help future presidents along while
you benefit in the meantime. There
is also a strong upside. Something
interesting will happen as you use the
skill: you will find you have more time in
the day. Being caught listening shortens
conversations. A person who feels he has
been heard will stop trying to be heard,
and you can then get to other work more
quickly. Hearing something right the first
time makes repeating work less likely.
Eventually,
you'll find you have more effective
managers working for you. They will take
less time to hear you and less time to get
things done through other people. The best
result is more time gained. We
cannot offer a guaranteed path to the
presidency. However, you can come closer
to the top. If you follow the advice of
these other executives, you will be a
better candidate. If you fail to be
chosen, you will be a better executive in
the meantime. The
lessons? To get the president's job, be
good at your task and get caught
listening. People who promote others to
the position of president
look--consciously or unconsciously--for
this crucial trait. This does not
necessarily mean you will be able to run
your company; obviously, much more is
required for that. But increasing your
visibility as a listener--getting caught
listening--can help you earn the
promotion. Getting caught listening builds
trust, and building trust increases your
chance of promotion--all the way to the
top. References
Quotes
and citations have been taken from
personal interviews with the author and
his staff during the research for this
article. Paul
Tournier, To Understand Each Other, trans.
John S. Gilmour (Atlanta: John Knox Press,
1967). Peter
Meyer is the principal of The Meyer Group,
a consulting firm in Scotts Valley,
California. The author would like to thank
the several dozen senior executives and
board members who agreed to be interviewed
for this article. This
article is copr 1998 by Business Horizons,
all rights reserved. articles
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