Strengthening the CEO Within You

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0:37Hello, I'm Paul Michaelman, Director of Content for Harvard Business Digital, and our guest today is Joseph Bauer, Baker Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and author of The CEO Within, Why Inside Outsiders Are the Key to Succession Planning. Joe, thanks for joining the program. Paul, my pleasure. Okay, our mission for today is to help aspiring leaders prepare themselves to be strong CEO candidates in the future. But before we dive into the specifics, can you explain to us what an inside outsider is? Sure. An inside outsider is a manager that has grown up inside the company, developed there, but somehow or other hasn't drunk the Kool-Aid, has retained objectivity, has a perspective on what's happening in the world, and can understand the need for change in the company.

1:26Okay, thanks. You note in your Harvard Business Review article adaptation of your book how important it is for aspiring leaders to take responsibility for their own development from the very start of their careers. So, to help guide that process, you've developed a series of questions for individuals to ask themselves to make sure they're on the road to the corner office. So let's begin with those questions you suggest leaders ask during the recruitment process. For instance, an obvious starting question, why are you being hired? Right. You want to get a good understanding of why this company is hiring you.

2:05Obviously, they want you to do some work in the short term, but do they see you? Is this a company that hires people to develop and grow over time? Is there a career path? Are there career paths? or are you basically cannon fodder to do the job this year and we'll see what happens? So how do you get up the answer to that question? Should you overtly ask the employer? Should you be asking other people? Well, there are a lot more questions you can ask. How are they going to help you grow? What pattern of assignments are you going to get? That's really important. Are you going to have time to learn?

2:40Is this a place where you're just running all the time and do, do, do, do, do, never? What kind of mentoring are they going to provide you? Are there people who are actually going to help you? There are companies that will talk to this. Others, this will be the first time they've heard of it. That's revealing. What kind of training do they provide? When you're getting out of school, the last thing you want to think about is going back to school. But the truth of the matter is continuing education is a great thing. Does the company support it? Really important, if your goal is to want to run, how early can you run a business?

3:17Is this a company that's organized so that there are lots of pieces of business that are small and you can get a chance to try your wings? Or is this a place where you're going to be doing analysis all your life, you're going to be in a function all your life? The first is what you're looking for. It's a place with lots of businesses to run. So, Joe, how specific an answer can you reasonably expect to that question? Some companies would give, I mean, they'd organize their pitch to you around the kind of questions I just asked. So some companies have really thought about it. Great. So the next phase, now that you're on the job, you've developed another series of questions to help shepherd your development further.

4:00The first sounds like an obvious one to me. Do you meet your numbers? Well, yeah. I mean, in the end of the day, it's great to talk about growth and development, but you've got to perform. You can't get into the game without developing a reputation for meeting your commitments. So that's very important. But there are other kinds of things. If you're a person who is early recognized as someone who helps others, do you develop other people? Is working with you a step up for them? Well, that is a huge thing in your own reputation as a developer. How do you get on with your peers? Are you so competitive that they don't trust you?

4:47Or are you someone that they really welcome? That's a big deal. How do you manage up? I mean, one of the most interesting things is we think of our bosses as people who are going to help us. So that usually means when your boss sees you coming, they say, uh-oh, here's a problem. They're going to ask for something. Well, think about what a difference it makes if you can actually help your boss. So managing up is a big issue and how you're going to help the organization. That also means you're learning about what it means to manage at higher levels of the organization. Finally, I would say, are you transparent?

5:32Or are you as someone who gets a reputation for spinning what they do? So basically, if you're going to be a leader, you probably want to get a reputation for being pretty straight. Now, does that mean being brutally honest? Can't you still tell a good story to talk up what you're doing, what your team is doing? Yes, but I think what managers really respect is someone who's willing to get right to the point. And if there's a problem saying, look, I screwed up, or this didn't work out, here's what we're going to do about it. Not some tap dance. Okay. The next phase of the questions is focus on developing yourself.

6:16One question I thought was particularly poignant is, are you developing a network that expands outside of your own division? Yeah. It's really interesting that most managers, when they're developing, focus on the people right around them, and they literally don't get outside their own organization very much. The more you do that, the better. Outside the division, outside the company. I mean, it's interesting. Some people just get to know their customers, get to know their vendors. I mean, you can even talk to union people, my God, and you might learn something. So those kinds of things. Do you know people in the community who aren't in your business, may not even be in business?

7:09They're in other parts of society. It's interesting how much you can learn when you work for the community chest or when you work for the Red Cross or when you work for a local school or any of those things. You meet other kinds of people and guess what? That's how you begin to develop a view of what's going on in the world other than the received wisdom inside the company. So these are all hedges against company think. Right. Well, yes. And it's also a way of developing yourself, though. So those organizations outside, nonprofits, will usually give you responsibility earlier than you'd get it in your own company.

7:51So now that's interesting. We're not just talking about civic good. We're not just talking about being involved in the community. We're really talking about management development. Yeah, developing yourself as someone who can contribute, who can lead. Right. Okay. Final phase of the questions that you suggest leaders ask themselves. Focus on living a balanced life. Well, I mean, I have to tell you that when I work with middle managers, people running pretty significant pieces of business, one of the questions that they always ask is, how do I do all this and take care of my family? And you've got to take care of your family, your friends.

8:38who are the people who will stick with you and help you during difficult times? Who's your mirror? Who tells you the truth instead of what you want to hear? The higher you go, the more you're going to hear what you want to hear, not what will really help you. And it takes a lot of management of the calendar. I mean, one of my favorite friends starts the year by putting on the religious holidays and then the birthdays of the children and so on, and those can't be touched. And it's surprising how much he can do, even though he's meeting a whole different set of obligations. Right. Joseph Bauer, great advice.

9:26Thanks you very much for joining us today. You're very welcome. Thank you.

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