Page 205 - Roy W. Rice - CEO Material How to Be a Leader in Any Organization-McGraw-Hill (2009)

186 • CEO Material: How to Be a Leader in Any Organization

■ Get a replacement ready to take your place.
■ Look, work, walk, and talk (without a hint of arrogance) like you
are already in the next job before you are so that people “see”
you in it.

Decide What You Need and Want to Do Next

Sit and think what you’d like to do next. Whether you are a supervisor,
manager, director, vice president, or executive, think about and write a
list of what you want—not just what they want or value—in professional
development, personal growth, location/lifestyle, compensation, and
other things important to you. List them, rank them on a scale of 1 to 10,
and then when you are considering a move, you can test what you feel
about the new opportunity against your objective ranking. Seek ideas and
information on the possibilities by reading and talking to your network
of contacts, mentors, and spouse. Study and lay out options.

Go to the boss’s boss and say, “I’d like to buy you lunch” or “Can I
have 10 minutes of your time ... because I’d like to understand....”
Always tell them how much time you’ll take because we don’t want
to commit to unended time.

Find out top management’s interests or the CEO’s pet project, if
possible. Ask your boss what’s needed most, what would add the biggest
value to the company regardless of whether it’s in line with your specialty
or not. Talk to human resources about what they see as next steps. Poll
search consultants about what good options are. If you talk to a lot of
people (while at the same time continuing to peruse printed material),
you’ll get a point of valuable information here and here and there.
Find and talk to people (inside and outside your company) already
doing the jobs that you are interested in pursuing, and go and talk to
them about the work—the challenges, opportunities, frustrations, and
obstacles—and observe them for a day, if possible. (Your interest likely
will increase their self-esteem. Think about how you’d feel if some up-
and-comer wanted to follow you around.) Take your own personal time
if necessary. You also may want to speak to people who chose not to take
the job to get their reasoning for turning it down.