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A Message From Jeff
Dear Friends,
Success in each of our businesses comes down, ultimately, to a single most important factor: leadership. We have found as we work with successful business leaders, that the key, essential quality that predicts their success in leading others is how well they lead themselves. This quality of self-leadership—how well you "walk the walk," so to speak—is where it truly all begins.
To be able to forcefully and effectively lead others, you have to be in touch with your own, internal "leadership." You must develop true clarity about who you are—your personal beliefs and values—and your vision for the future. Together, this self-knowledge forms the core of what we call your "Leadership Point of View."
What is a “Leadership POV?” According to Ken Blanchard, noted author and keynote speaker, “Your leadership point of view is a statement of your beliefs and values about how you lead yourself and others. It describes a picture of the future where there is consistency between your values, your words and your actions.” In essence, it is the foundation upon which your leadership is built.
I urge you to read the full article about how your Leadership POV translates to success. I offer some questions that help you create and refine your Leadership POV. If you tackle the exercise and each of the seven questions in the full article, you can begin leading differently today by doing this work to hone your Leadership POV.
Best regards,
ASK OUR COACH
As part of our commitment to provide assistance and support to executives wanting to further their professional and personal brand, we have created the ASK OUR COACH email service where you can get confidential answers to your career questions. What’s on your mind? Don’t hesitate to ASK OUR COACH.
Here are answers to our first questions from last month:
Q: What protection and incentives can the parent company be providing to me and my senior management team upon a change of control, i.e., sale or merger?
A: If the management team has been in place and critical to building the business (value) for more than 5+ years, it is customary to expect incentives as follows:
1. One to two years base salary payments, upon successful sale of the business.
2. Accelerated vesting of stock options.
3. Severance payments of 12-24 months, if the position is eliminated under a change of control. In some cases, there might also be “retention bonuses” utilized to provide a lump sum payment (i.e., 6-12 months salary) for staying on through a minimal period of six months after the completion of the sale transaction.
Q: What challenges do I need to be aware of at this stage of my career in moving to a client-side opportunity?
A: If you have stayed on the marketing services side for more than six or seven years, at some point client-side opportunities will tend to discount your ability to transition from the services to client side. Many times, client-side hiring authorities view marketing services candidates as “too narrow,” e.g., only focused on the creative/campaign management side of marketing and lacking skills internally required to manage the broad logistical elements of launching/delivering new products and services.
Your Feedback to Us
Last month, I wrote about the hiring challenges being experienced during the current hot job climate. One response to that article was from Michael Phelan, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at HiWired, a fast-growing venture funded firm offering remote technology support services to consumers and small businesses:
"The hiring market has not been this hot since 1999/2000. Companies need to radically adjust their strategies in order to be successful in this market. First, senior executives need to spend considerable time personally recruiting top talent; they need to work closely with top recruiting companies and they need to move through the hiring process rapidly. Small flexible companies who can immediately move to offer and cut out or adjust second/third round interviews stand much better chances of winning top talent. Candidates can view slow bureaucratic hiring processes, evidence of politics and conflicting messages during the interviews as indications of lack of interest or evidence of bigger internal problems."
Phelan went on to describe a recent hiring decision for a hard-to-get Online Marketing Manager. HiWired’s CEO conducted a final interview over the phone on a Tuesday evening at 9 p.m., while he was on vacation, and an offer was made the next day at 8 a.m. The candidate had another offer and turned it down to accept the position at HiWired. Another candidate had four job offers and still accepted a position at HiWired. In all these cases, salary, bonus and stock option did not really factor in. In fact, the candidates made decisions based on respect for the hiring manager, the hiring manager's ability to make it happen, fit with the team, opportunities to learn and grow, the work environment, and overall organizational and cultural fit.
Connect with EC at These Conferences
Jeff was a panelist last week on “CMO—The First 100 Days” at the ANA Senior Marketers Think Tank Committee Meeting in New York City. The discussion focused on the very brief period of time that new CMOS have to prove their value to an organization and how they can turn their first 100 days into a springboard for future success. Panelists discussed questions such as:
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What’s the dialog between a prospective CMO and CEO?
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Why is alignment between these two notably savvy, highly experienced professionals so difficult to achieve?
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What’s not being discussed that ultimately leads to such a quick breakdown of this relationship?
Next week Jeff will be attending The 19th Annual Card Forum and Expo in Boca Raton, FL. You can read more about this conference on our website here.
Jeff Gundersen
CEO & President
Executive Connections, LLC
Serving Executives in
— direct marketing,
— financial services,
— branding & communications industries.
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Be Connected!
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Connected
Contact us at connect@
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and let us know how we can help you connect with what you need.