Page 34 - Roy W. Rice - CEO Material How to Be a Leader in Any Organization-McGraw-Hill (2009)

You Have a Good Track Record • 15

In whatever work you do, provide structure, be a technical heavy-
weight, possess unquestioned functional skills, work hard, see the big pic-
ture, create new systems or processes, step back and see how things could
be done better and more cost-effectively, have global smarts, show improve-
ment every year in how you save money and provide growth opportunities,
handle the balance sheets, and earn good returns on capital employed.

■ If you’re in sales, sell more to more people, spending fewer
expenses and earning more profit.
■ If you’re in finance, save your company money and increase
revenues and worth.
■ If you’re in research and development, invent a solution to a
problem.
■ If you’re in information technology (IT), make information more
accessible and usable, and do so faster.
■ If you’re in marketing, creatively and resourcefully get more
positive exposure and support sales.
■ If you’re in human resources, resolve issues, get processes in place,
and communicate among all levels more efficiently and effectively.
■ If you’re in engineering, learn to sell your ideas and get
consensus from individuals to get understanding and support
before you get in front of the group.

Unfortunately, track record derailers and disqualifiers are many.
For example:

■ You have technical brilliance, but you are not perceived as an
executor.
■ You have good ideas, but you don’t develop and implement them.
■ You are administratively challenged, meaning that things sit longer
on your desk than they should; you micromanage too much.
■ You don’t do enough detail analysis (not nitpicking but detail).
■ You need more focus in general.
■ You bring more questions than you do answers.
■ You miss deadlines and fail to deliver results or deliver the wrong
results.