Page 117 - Executive Warfare

Rivals

In the old Western movies, there is
often a beady-eyed undertaker there in the background, sizing up the
young gunslinger and thinking, “Is this a five-foot-six coffin or a five-
foot-eight coffin?”
If you are a contender for a big job, I guarantee that people are always
sizing you up in the same cool way—and against your rivals, not coffin
sizes.
It doesn’t matter what the personality of your organization is, whether
you and your rivals are jockeying for position in an atmosphere of true
congeniality, or pretend congeniality, or agitation and anxiety, or open war-
fare. The people above you are watching how you behave with your rivals.
They want to see how you handle difficult situations.And they’re not above
pitting you against each other—or
worse, forcing you to work together.
So you have to handle your rivals YOU MAY VERY
intelligently, in a way that demonstrates WELL BE
your superior abilities as a leader. Before COMPETING FOR
you can do anything smart, however, it THE NEXT JOB
helps to know who those rivals are. WITH ANYBODY
Generally, at the lower and middle lev- WHO’S CAPTURED
els of organizational life, you are com- THE ATTENTION OF
peting against your peers. But as you THE BIG BOSSES
rise and the circle of possible choices for AND THE BOARD.
every promotion tightens, you may very
well be competing for the next job with
anybody who’s captured the attention of the big bosses and the board—
including people not necessarily on your radar screen.
Your boss is a potential rival, and so are the most visible of your own
employees. Your rivals can include executives from other organizations,
unfamiliar to you, who have caught somebody’s eye. In a family busi-
ness, the son or daughter who doesn’t seem quite old enough for the job
may be a rival. Your rivals can even include your own outside board

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