Page 277 - Executive Warfare

Afterword

many, many more if you are fickle in your thinking or behavior—and peo-
ple will not follow you or respect you.
When you do take a position on any organizational issue, you should
be as careful and as certain of what you
are doing as anybody high up in politics
has to be. The classic political advice,
AS A TOP
“Think of how it will look in a 30-sec-
EXECUTIVE, YOU
ond attack ad,” is worth keeping in
WILL BE LONELY IN
mind, no matter what your business. At
MANY OF THE
this level, if you flip-flop too many
HOURS YOU SPEND
times, you will lose your constituency—
AT WORK BECAUSE
and your ability to move up.
YOU HAVE TO MAKE
The third thing it takes to become a
SO MANY
person of presence is perspective—and
DECISIONS ON
you cannot develop perspective if your
YOUR OWN. DON’T
entire life revolves around your job.
EXTEND THAT
Though it’s contrary to some con-
LONELINESS TO
ventional wisdom about how to suc-
YOUR PERSONAL
ceed, I highly recommend having
LIFE.
interests outside the office—interests
that you can pursue without people
from the office. Don’t take so much
work home with you that you look like a donkey at the end of the day.
Whether it’s on your computer or in paper form, you probably won’t look
at it all anyway. Try to avoid speaking the Star Trek language of executives,
which eliminates all emotion in favor of basis points, leverage, and click-
through rates. Make friends who have nothing to do with your organiza-
tional life—and don’t sacrifice your family for your job, no matter how
important.
As a top executive, you will be lonely in many of the hours you spend
at work because you have to make so many decisions on your own. Don’t
extend that loneliness to your personal life. Not only will it help your

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