Page 33 - Roy W. Rice - CEO Material How to Be a Leader in Any Organization-McGraw-Hill (2009)

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

When I babysat as a teen, my parents taught me to do the dishes,
laundry, and clean the house too. I was the most sought out and heav-
ily tipped babysitter in town.
Executive search professionals from Korn/Ferry, Spencer Stuart, and
Russell Reynolds unanimously say, “The best predictor of the future is
the past.” So it’s a requisite to have a history of triumphal outcomes to be
seen as a potential potentate.
Do good work preferably in revenue-driving functions such as sales,
marketing, operations, and finance (where most corporate leaders come
from; few come from human resources, so don’t have that as your only
expertise). Over time, get experience in human resources, though, as well
as turnaround, startup, joint-venture, or venture-capital exposure as fits
your company.
Whether you are an engineer, an accountant, a salesperson, a com-
puter guru, or a marketing wizard—it’s all fine as long as you continually
get progressively challenging assignments and demonstrate competency
and an ability to oversee, stimulate, and nurture people.
When you are “chief,” you will be judged on your ability to posi-
tively affect the stock price, find growth opportunities, provide share-
holder profitability, increase sales, provide return on investment, increase
market share, and improve employees. Whatever you can do today in
whatever job you have to make some impact on any of these areas demon-
strates “the past that will predict your future.”
The white space between candidates is very small, particularly the
higher up you go. You need to be really good at something important that
adds value to the company—in the eyes of your boss, your colleagues, and
your subordinates. All your stakeholders need to say, “He’s good at his
job”—you saying and thinking it is irrelevant.
Become intimate with the work that is needed now in your com-
pany and industry, as well as what will be needed in the future from a
360-degree perspective. Get into those types of jobs early on, and stay in!
Find out what the top bosses’ biggest goals, objectives, and/or pet
projects are. Help them to achieve the results they want. Few bosses will
ignore or dismiss someone who is working on a favorite project. Get off
projects the big bosses don’t like (unless you are 200 percent certain the
boss is wrong).