Page 42 - Executive Warfare

EXECUTIVE W ARF ARE

During the meeting at which this idea was presented to the top deci-
sion makers, I asked, “What happens to our investment if the guerillas
destabilize the government or a civil war breaks out?”
This was a question that needed to be asked, but the people whose job
it was to ask it had not thought about it. My bosses suddenly looked at me
as if I might be the most valuable person in the room.
By learning as much as you can about the organization as a whole, you
are able to show dimension and prove that you belong in a broader role—
possibly one that spans the whole organization.
There are other, smaller ways of showing dimension, too. I once had a
boss who was dying to go to Wimbledon. This was long before the advent
of eBay made buying tickets to anything
easy. None of my peers could figure out
BY LEARNING AS
how to get him there, but I could. Now,
MUCH AS YOU CAN
was that going to make me the person
ABOUT THE
who went up to the next job? No, but it
ORGANIZATION AS
was not going to hurt, either.
A WHOLE, YOU ARE
You will have to do many other
ABLE TO SHOW
things that we’ll talk about in subse-
DIMENSION AND
quent chapters, such as hire well, moti-
PROVE THAT YOU
vate your employees, and convince your
BELONG IN A
boss to trust you. Ideally, you will bring
BROADER ROLE.
in truckloads of money for the com-
pany or partnership or university and
get to a point where people start thinking they cannot afford to lose you.
Most important, you will have to not be stupid. This sounds obvious,
but I have seen so many cases of ridiculous stupidity even at the highest
levels of organizational life that perhaps it is not so obvious.
The first thing people are told when they go into politics is, “Get used
to the scrutiny.” This applies just as well to higher management. You are
being judged every minute, and small things can tip the balance in your
favor or against it.

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