It is, no doubt, helpful to have a degree in psychology when you`re the boss, but Margie Goldsmith found there were plenty of new technical skills necessary-the iceberg below the surface of a new position.
When she became founder and president of a full-service video/film and distribution company, MG Productions in New York, she hired a tutor to drag her kicking and screaming into the computer age-one who would make house calls and who wouldn`t charge cancellation fees when she had last-minute schedule craziness-and learned to let down her defenses about new technology.
”Now I can do a shorter phone call followed by a longer fax,” she says. ”A machine functions as an additional employee-another brain, another pair of hands.”
Goldsmith got an accountant who didn`t laugh when she admitted she didn`t know what ”in the black” and ”in the red” meant, implementing her own theory of selective stupidity: ”It`s important to figure out who it`s okay to look stupid in front of: never your clients, and never your staff.”
She hired only the best; she knew another company whose answering service always picked up on the first ring and that`s who she got, even though it cost twice as much as some others.
”When you`re responsible for the budget, you`re always walking a fine line. You try not to make expensive mistakes, but you figure out where to spend money in order to make money. I spend twice as much as I should on overhead for my office, but it`s an excellent dog-and-pony show for my company.”
There`s a consensus among successful executives that the most important aspect of management is communication-making expectations clear, making people feel important, making sure the staff knows that the boss`s eyes and ears are open.
”My least favorite thing is when someone stops me and says, `What did you think of my last proposal?` ” says Katherine Hudson, vice president and director of corporate-information systems at Eastman Kodak in Rochester, N.Y. ”I`ve got 2,000 people working for me! Do you say, `Get on my calendar,` or do you stop? If you can make someone feel you are truly focused on what he`s doing-like holding all calls when he`s in your office-the power you unleash in your organization is enormous.”
Zapping gets work done
Hudson says an important executive skill is ”zapping”-bouncing from one subject to another with the rapid-fire succession of a TV remote control-and she cannot remember how she lived before self-adhesive notes.
Stroking is a priority, too: Recently the company had an ”It`s a Jungle Out There Day,” during which the executives served bananas to the staff.
”It`s a way of saying, We appreciate you, and we`re willing to look a little crazy to show it.”
Some people exert power by withholding information-they think they`re stronger when they know something no one else knows. This is not a theory endorsed by Ellen Rudnick, corporate vice president of Baxter International in Deerfield, Ill., manufacturer and marketer of health-care products, systems and services. Rudnick also is president of Baxter`s Management Services Division, which provides consulting and software services to help hospitals manage their costs.
”Poor communications creates problems,” she says, ”and I try to be sure I`m part of the solution, not part of the problem.” Rudnick`s explicit message is, There`s nothing you can`t tell me. If we can`t correct it, we can diffuse it. But if you lie to me, you`re outta here.”
She writes and circulates the monthly President`s Letter-reporting on the signing up of new customers, financial results, human-resources issues-as a shorthand way of keeping people informed. ”And whenever there`s a meeting, I include anybody who`s involved-that way I get exposure to several different levels in my organization.”
The boss, however benevolent, often is viewed as omnipotent-a mixed blessing, to some new executives. ”You have to be careful about giving an opinion, because it`s viewed as law,” says Anne Bryant, executive director of the American Association of University Women.
Three years ago Bryant became the equivalent of a CEO for a nonprofit company that promotes equity and opportunity for women and girls, and she found some way to diffuse her overwhelming responsibility. Her organization has 1,800 national chapters and a staff of 100 at its base in Washington, D.C., but Bryant deliberately did not pick a deputy.
”I have eight department heads,” she explains, ”and I rotate who`s in charge when I`m away. I call in every day, but I try to force them to make decisions. That way the finance person has to learn about membership.”
She broadens her own base of knowledge by turning to people outside her organization, but she has learned to be wary of experts. Once she hired a firm for a project that suggested the use of telemarketing. Her instinct was that sophisticated people wouldn`t respond to what amounted to nuisance telephone requests, but she went along with the suggestion.
Her instinct was right: ”The technique created a lot of ill will. I learned not to be persuaded by articulate and compelling `experts.` ”
In the public eye
Whether testifying before Congress for day-care legislation or speaking to school groups about latchkey children, Bryant quickly had to learn the most effective way to address the public: She makes phone calls to five people who are going to be in the audience.
”I ask them, `What`s your experience in the organization? What`s your most important concern right now?` Things like that. You get five instant allies. If you want some kind of participation, they will be brave enough to raise their hands, and that`s what you need for a speech: momentum. It`s not insecure to ask them privately for feedback afterward. You have to ask questions that give you hard answers.”
With sudden success comes the implication that a wider world is out there observing you-you are on display in more ways than one. Juanita Costa found that out when she left New York for Minneapolis to run a limited partnership that pools investment money at IDS Financial Services.
IDS fosters good management: It has a ”leadership development” program for executives, and Costa had a mandate to find her own replacement, thus legitimizing the role of mentor. But nobody told her how to appear on television.
When one of her new responsibilities turned out to be guest appearances on CNN as a financial expert, she had to learn a new skill fast. Costa`s advice is: Practice in front of your mirror or your mother until you get it right, and find a friend who has a video camera so that you know how to look and sound.
She also spent two weeks shopping for an appropriate business wardrobe-what she calls a designer look with corporate concessions. Her choices reflect the conservative world of finance: a preponderance of subdued colors, with an occasional flashier red or turquoise in a longer length-”just to let them know there`s a woman in the room.” The emphasis is on beautifully tailored natural fabrics and substantial jewelry (expensive).
”You`ve got to gulp and go make those purchases,” she says. ”You want a certain look in the cut and drape of the clothes, and that look is not available inexpensively.
I see clothes as costume, and a certain seriousness of dress allows me to get the business done, to be immediately accepted,” Costa says.
Even though no one sees her when she talks on the telephone, Costa pays attention to her style-friendly but efficient and authoritative; no schmoozing.
”That voice is an instrument of power,” confirms Ann Hunt, an executive-search consultant and partner of Korn/Ferry in New York. ”You`d be amazed how many women have little-girl voices and giggle on the phone. It`s quite distracting. You have to develop a continuity of message.”
The trickiest part of sudden success may have nothing to do with conveying a new image or learning a new skill. It`s more internal. ”There`s a mental shift,” explains Bryant, ”from performing at your best for someone else`s approval to motivating other people and dispensing your approval.”
Women who no longer are climbing the ladder of success have to find rewards from new sources-enjoying the role of role model, perhaps, or participating in community activities that enhance the name and reputation of the company.
That was the key for Ellen Rudnick. ”This organization that I now lead is what`s going to keep me successful,” she says. ”If my team does well, I do well. It`a win-win situation.”
