
Leadership is never given, it's taken - paulsb
http://www.trixbox.com/about-us/blog/leadership-never-given-its-taken
======
coglethorpe
"Got an idea that you think your managers are missing? Tell them? They don’t
like it? Tell their bosses? They don’t like it? Tell the CEO. Stand on his or
her desk if you have to – shout your reasoning, advocate for your customers,
do what you have to do. Think you are gonna get fired?"

YES. In the vast majority of large corporations you will get fired before you
even have the chance to get near the CEO's desk. Every single outspoken person
I've known in large organizations has gotten laid off or canned outright.
People who "take" leadership are seen as a threat to those who already have it
and are eliminated.

The first or even second level managers don't even have a say. Unless your
title is at least "director" you don't have a prayer in implementing any real
change in the organization. The problem is, most directors are "yes men"
who've risen through the ranks and are more interested in protecting their
power than improving things.

Want to take leadership? Work for a smaller company where you might have more
say, or start your own company like the author of the article apparently did.

~~~
notauser
Rubbish (with one caveat). It is certainly possible to make change happen,
even in huge companies.

The caveat - you have to do it the right way, and make the most of your
advantages. (Being a new graduate or studying something work related, for
example, is a massive advantage as it gives you a credible excuse for 'being
keen'.)

The right way:

\- Work out what should be changed and why. Condense this into a easy to
follow thirty second pitch that is hard to argue against.

\- Get friendly with your target's secretary. CEO's secretaries are people
too, and spending ten minute's a day for a month getting to know her is a
vital part of the plan.

\- Sell the idea to your line manager. You are _not_ asking for permission,
just covering your back from later fallout (hey, you gave him a heads up and
he didn't stop you...). His feedback can sometimes be useful too. His
objections may need to be addressed in your pitch.

\- Get your target's secretary to book you in with him for fifteen minutes. If
your idea isn't good enough that she is willing to do this, despite your new
friendship, it sucks and you need to rethink anyway.

\- Pitch and cross your fingers. Your general competence, politeness and
ability to cut through the system while working inside it will mark you out as
someone to listen to. At this stage your idea might get bounced, but in my
experience this is rare if you have a real problem, a good resolution, and a
cost effective plan to go from here to there. Usually the only downside is
that you get put in charge of making it happen - so be sure to have a list of
things you need prepared.

You might think to yourself that this sounds like an awful lot of work to get
an idea implemented, but it does work. It's also fantastic practice for
selling your own product later, as these steps share a lot in common with a
typical sales process.

The wrong way:

\- Mumble something incoherent or badly thought out to your boss. When he
'doesn't get it' repeat it to his boss. Keep working up the chain, without
ever taking a bath or wearing a suit, until every manager in the whole
organisation thinks you are an irritating pillock. Then for an encore repeat
the same unresearched assertions in front of the CEO (but more vehemently),
having alienated your local managers to the point that they won't stand up for
you.

~~~
aditya
This is what is wrong with Corporate America today. Why should you need to
work the system? That's why some startups are a lot more successful, they're
just a lot more efficient while the awesome-hacker-in-big-company-is-still-
getting-to-know-the-CEO-s-secretary :-)

~~~
jraines
I would argue that there are no contexts where "working the system" isn't
necessary for success, including startups. The systems you have to work here
can even be more difficult because they are distributed -- investors,
potential customers, etc. More like seduction than working your way to the top
of a prison gang, but "working the system" nonetheless.

"You have to work the system" can be shortened to "You have to work". You have
to do things that are uncomfortable, that you think you shouldn't have to do,
in order to succeed.

~~~
aditya
Yep, but you still need to make a decision about which system you should be
working in order to maximize whatever it is you're trying to maximize.

If you're trying to maximize wealth, iterating and failing fast is a much
better way to do it as opposed to kissing middle-management ass, what's the
point of working that system?

~~~
notauser
Hmm, not sure about that. Taking a arbritrary threshold of $500k a year, I
have friends who earn that on boards of FTSE250 companies - there are maybe
2,500 of those jobs just in the UK (10 per company). At the top end exec
compensation hits $40m+ which is equal to a huge startup cash out.

How many startup founder positions are there that pay over $500k a year? How
many $40m+ wins are there per year?

Writing off the corporate route to weath might be a mistake, there are too
many factors just to dismiss something as black and white. By the time you
start considering risk, competitors and everything else it gets very
complicated indeed. The fact that it isn't something you want to do personally
doesn't make it a bad choice for everyone.

------
boredguy8
1) Many corporate environments are built around a lack of trust. Generally
this parades as "quality assurance" or "change management". There's certainly
a place for QA and change management - the problem is that those processes
often intervene -before- a change takes place. Beneficial change, however, is
not always obvious prior to implementation. So say some plebe in app
management has an idea for restructuring the UI of a particular sub-section,
but it gets nixed because "The users won't understand" or "We'll have to
retrain." A) This could be the change that would make life easier for the
people who interact with that screen, they just didn't know it; B) Even if
there's a mock-up, it's not the same as using the system. Now certainly
there's a real cost to change, but most organizations are restrictive rather
than permissive. This makes the "fight for change" really hard.

2) Bad corporate managers view ideas as a threat, if they didn't buy in. Say
you have an idea that could alter your company for the better. If your manager
rejects it and you push the issue, you better watch your back. (As a manager
this is a hard impulse to overcome if you let yourself get 'sucked into' the
corporate environment. Instead of being angry that someone "went around you",
realize you missed a good idea (it's ok!) and try and figure out how to make
it the best implementation possible.)

3) People are delusional. The linked post talks about people who think they
have good ideas. In 'bitch and moan' sessions I've witnessed at conferences,
eating with colleagues at lunch or whatever, I hear about how their great
ideas are being ignored. Their ideas aren't great. They've come to be ignored
because they're the Dwight Schrute of their office. So telling people to 'take
leadership' is actually really bad advice.

~~~
DenisM
On the last point, I often wonder if I am delusional or not. It helps to find
a few fellow engineers who are willing to listen, understand and tell you when
you're smoking crack. Of course you should be ready to extend the favor
yourself.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
I brainstorm a lot, and I like to bounce ideas off my fellow engineers. I've
found the most effective stratety to getting buy-in is 1) awareness -- usually
via link sharing 2) conversation around the lunch table -- weeds out 85% of
ideas 3) more conversation, this time during meetings, where the positive of X
is brought up in contrast to what happenes now and then, finally 4) proposal.
Slow and steady wins the race. You don't want to trigger people's fight or
flight response.

------
dusklight
Okay I really like the message that is being sent in this article.

But whether it works really depends on the company culture. You gotta remember
that for each individual employee, his/her incentive is NOT to do what
benefits the company the most. His/her incentive is to do what benefits
HIMSELF/HERSELF the most. So it is up to the company to create a culture where
doing what benefits the company the most also benefits the individual the
most.

For many many companies this is not the case. Due to internal politics or the
ego of managers, it is often to the benefit of the individual employee to shut
up and do the stupid thing. GIGO you know. Why should I speak up and make the
company $100 million dollars, if it means my manager will get mad at me and my
raise goes down by 1%?

------
augustus
I think this is more of a leadership problem than anything else.

I think one of the goals of a leader is to create an environment in which
people feel good about bringing their ideas to the forefront. They shouldn't
be punished for being outspoken.

I agree with coglehtorpe that in many large organizations such a person would
get fired.

I think employees can speak up but before they do they should assess the
situation.

I don't know if your chances are better in general in a small company. I have
been in small organizations where the CEO is a bully and don't really care for
much feedback.

The trick is to work for an organization large or small whose culture favors
such a behavior for e.g. GE under Welch or some of today's great companies
when they were small etc.

What I can say from experience though is that a company that favors employees
to speak and one that values their opinion is a superior company.

------
daniel-cussen
A self-appointed CEO / Janitor's perspective is going to be very different
from pretty much everyone else in the workforce. Many leaders in middle-
management literally got "'ass-kicking-certification plaques' at [their]
doorstep[s]..." in the form of an acceptance letter to business school. As
coglethorpe said, doing end runs around your superiors _will_ get you fired.

This guy's cool and all, but he's on a plane that does only intersects with
corporate America at the talent pool of sheepish employees.

------
daniel-cussen
I remember reading in a book by Tom Peters that Toyota has a suggestion box
system they take seriously. Like, they implemented 6,000 employee suggestions
a year at one point.

