Page 63 - Roy W. Rice - CEO Material How to Be a Leader in Any Organization-McGraw-Hill (2009)

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

you trouble. The best you can hope for is to minimize the damage they
can do to you.
Dr. Leigh Thompson of Northwestern University showed that
“bullying bosses beget bullying subordinates; but a top manager with a
gentler, compassionate nature begets subordinates who have the gentler,
compassionate nature.” Don’t let bullies get under your skin or into your
head. The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably have to deal with watches
you comb your hair in the mirror every morning.

Internal politics and connections can be more relevant and powerful
than those found externally. Find time to know people and for them
to get to know you. Learn people’s strengths and weaknesses in a
social environment, and they can be capitalized upon in a working
setting. If people can know you in a personal setting, they then will
achieve a greater ease to trust you with other information and become
closer, more dependent. Build a team of confidents both at the top
and within your peer group. Your peer group will grow with you, and
they will wield more power and wisdom as you grow older and move
up within the company. Spread your wings to other divisions/expertise
to have your ideas and name reverberate and to make more people
aware of your capabilities and supportive of your positions.

The only generalist job in the company is the top job. If, at all
levels of your climb, you take on generalist skills (interchangeable with
people skills), you will be talked about as a high potential candidate for
advancement.