Page 204 - Executive Warfare

EXECUTIVE W ARF ARE

These people have a lot to say about your career—more than ever, in
fact, given the degree to which they are taking their oversight responsibil-
ities seriously in this post-Enron era. But even if you are the head of a very
large division, they probably only see you when you are presenting to them.
Still, board members hear things and talk among themselves.And based
on very little evidence, evidence that you may never have a chance to
respond to, they make judgments about you. On the day when the CEO
goes to the board and says he wants to promote you, if a couple of the
directors raise their hands and say, “You know, I’m not so sure,” you are
probably a dead man.
This is not about majority rule. It’s about noise—positive or negative
noise. And if the noise is negative, even the CEO may think,“I don’t want
to make this fight.”
As a result, outside directors are a great exception to my bias against
networking. I’m all for being aloof socially from those people you see all
the time. However, you are running a
serious risk if you remain unknown to
BEWARE OF your outside board members.
THE SIN OF You don’t need to bond with them;
ARROGANCE. IT IS you just need to let them learn more
NOT ENOUGH TO BE about you and your capabilities than
RIGHT. YOU HAVE they could glean in a conference room,
TO PROVE YOU’RE so that the next time they hear some
RIGHT. rumor about you or a salesman criti-
cizes the way you are running your
business, they will give you the benefit
of the doubt. The trick is finding a way to interact with them without
obviously campaigning for a promotion and without threatening your
boss.
You might even consider going to the boss and saying, “I’m worried
about the three or four directors who do not know me.”She may help you
get to know them.

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