Page 141 - The extraordinary leader

118 • The Extraordinary Leader

“She is a great pianist.” What would be your response? Probably, you would
say, “What difference does that make?” Although being a great pianist is a very
nice skill to have, unless it fills an organizational need, it does not benefit you
at work.
In this chapter, we have avoided being prescriptive about skills that every-
one needs to do well to be a great leader. Our advice is to build a high level
of competence in three to five skill areas, balanced across the major areas of
the tent we described in Chapter 3.
In researching the profiles of different companies, it is apparent that dif-
ferent organizations have specific profiles that point to key competencies
absolutely required to be successful. Organization profiles reveal one, two,
or three dominant characteristics that tend to define a key competency for
that organization. Doing well on this skill or competency places you in good
company with most other members of the organization. However, doing
exceptionally well on this competency does not tend to leverage overall lead-
ership effectiveness. The reason for this is that everyone does the competency
well so it is almost impossible to differentiate yourself from most others.
Doing poorly on these competencies, however, would be a certain path to
failure. These organizational competency drivers tend to hurt more than
help. To be successful in an organization, it is critical for people to under-
stand what these competencies are and to possess a reasonable level of skill
in them.

What Organizations Value
An implication of the COP model is that to be successful in an organization,
people need to combine their competencies with their passions and then find
an organization that needs what they have to offer. In the same way that
people come with different and unique personalities, so do organizations. No
two are exactly the same. In the same way that one has courtships with a vari-
ety of different people to find the individual that best fits one’s own personal-
ity, so should people find a match between themselves and the organization
for which they work. Many people try to accommodate their own personal
style and desires to the needs of an organization. Although this can be done
successfully, frequently this leads to frustration, job dissatisfaction, and failure
to be promoted and advanced. Finding an organization where there is a good
fit often allows people to truly excel.