Page 85 - Free Yourself From

68 It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor

ironically, that same trait has probably played a role in getting them
where they are. My answer is that situations change and sometimes
our greatest strength in one context can become our greatest obsta-
cle in another.
Women who have been rewarded for working hard and “getting
it done right” look at me like I’m out of my mind. But, in fact, senior
business leaders use a different set of skills than middle managers. If
you are overly involved, controlling, mired in the details, and hyper-
critical then you can’t keep your eye on the big picture—and the role
of a senior executive is to look after the big picture, not the minutia.
If you can’t make the transition, the message you’ll send is that
you’re a great middle manager, but not leadership material.
When taking on the CEO role for my company in the early
1990s, I learned right away that if I wanted to operate at the highest
standards, which is essential for any consulting firm, I could not do
all the work or manage all the pieces of the business myself.
As we grew from 10 to 15 to 20 customers, I had to figure out how
to prioritize what we needed to do immediately and what could wait
a few days. And I needed rules for determining which jobs I had to do
personally and which could be delegated to a staff that was also grow-
ing. I know from this experience that it’s hard to shake a habit that
you’ve been acknowledged for all of your life! However, reorganizing
and committing to a new way of operating was essential for me to
grow the business and, frankly, not drive myself to burnout.
What also motivated me to make a change was the fact that I had
seen several brilliant entrepreneurs start companies. Some succeeded
by hiring good people and handing tasks off to them while others got
caught up in the churn and tactical activities, and ultimately fell short
of realizing optimum growth and success for their company and them-
selves. I did not want to be in the latter category.
Let me be candid, it wasn’t easy to shift my assumptions and
behaviors regarding what I worked on, how I worked, and how I val-