Over the last few years, I have worked with several companies going through this phase. Recently, while talking with an owner and the designated future president of the company, I offered some advice about how to grow into what the company needs. Here is what I suggested to the employee who is to become the leader.
5 comments:
The topic of this article is definitely an interesting one. I often think of these iconic leaders, CEOs, founders who have made a name for themselves for their leadership. It's odd to think about them as employees prior to their leadership roles. However, this is the typical path to ownership, is a one point working as an employee. My dad is a really great example of this type of career path. He worked at Chili's as a cook, server, then as manager, and eventually a branch manager. Then after his years there, he started his restaurant. He often talks about this transition from employee, especially from a chain, to starting a restaurant in his 20's. Most of his path included a lot of what this article included which is getting passionate mentors and surrounding yourself with people you respect. That piece of advice is probably my dad's most common; he's always saying to surround myself with people I hope to be like. I think that advice is extremely applicable to life in addition to work.
One thing that this article failed to mention to me is considering the people who you are managing that are in the baby boomer generation. I hear from my mom all the time about who she is sick of young people coming in as CEO or other chief roles into her company and pretending they know everything. I guess this could fall under develop your people skills but I think this is a specific skill that must be used. My mom has been at her company since I was born and she shouldn’t have to put up with some 24-year-old CEO coming in telling her she is doing her job wrong. No one should have to deal with. Honestly, this article is pretty straightforward and doesn’t really surprise me with what it says. The reasons aren’t really unique and I think I knew all of them before. This article was disappointing and generic.
This article is instructive in how to make a “class type” set up for you to learn in. Its is clearly based off of how learning is structured in an academic settings. For example, reading books, attending lectures, make assignments with due dates for yourself are some of the articles suggestions. For the most part, these are things that you need to do outside of work. I would be shocked if there were not t ways you could transition to a leader without outside work. Though some of the power is sure to come from a change status, I would think that focusing on gaining trust from your peers and working collaboratively with them. Since this is a self-help article, I understand why it has a focus on additional actions. It can be hard to self monitor progress without concrete deadlines. Overall, it was an interesting article and fun to see one of the books from PRM in it.
There is nothing profound in this article. There is no hidden easter egg. Quite frankly, I found this to be a dull article filled with little insight. You want to lead your company some day? Great. First, learn everything you can about the company and its mission and vision. Build an understanding of corporate finances and tax codes. Learn how to read a profit and loss statement. Take leadership development courses (and if you are in college still, take them while in college). Be a team player and finally don’t be what you are not. The best people to work for are the ones who care about their employees. Look at companies where the retention rate is high and attrition is low. Treat people with respect, especially people who have been in the business longer than you have been alive. Listen to them, they know how the game is played. It’s great that you have fresh ideas, don’t be afraid to share them but don’t also act like your ideas are the best ideas. This is what people who want to lead their company some day should focus on.
I'm shy, so leadership and taking on leadership roles have always been something I've struggled with. These tips were actually super good, and while they seem a bit obvious looking back seeing them written out on paper really helped me make a list of things to do in case I need to take on a leadership role in the future and want to prepare for it well. One HUGELY obvious but often overlooked one (or in this case, two) were about finding leaders you admire and asking them about how they lead and their leadership ideologies and strategies. Getting information from the leaders you want to be like in order to become like them in your own leadership style is super helpful and provides a quicker way to learn good strategies and methods of leading. But one thing I didn't think of was attending leadership seminars. while they exist, I always viewed them as cheesy, but they certainly could be a good tool for someone trying to learn how to lead and who has no other resources to use.
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