This thought came to me as I was reading Love + Work by Marcus Buckingham, where he states:

“… to live happily and fully, you have to express your loves… You’ve got to get them out somewhere, somehow. Turn them from loves into actions; from passions into contributions and when you do, your life feels coherent and authentic and you know, you just know, every fiber of your being that you’re on your path. The inverse is also true, though… if you’re prevented from doing it (what you love) then your life starts to feel wrong. During the moments when you start thinking about doing something different because you’re frustrated, angry, concerned, think about what is happening in your current job and what you’re prevented from doing.” 

For any given job or career, there are times when we feel energized and there are times when we feel like quitting (even though we are in the same job). Often, our immediate response to unhappiness at work is to think about our exit plan. Before going there, take a moment to think about what your organization may be inadvertently stopping you from doing that means a lot to you. That insight may help you find a path forward either in your current role or when you look for your next opportunity. 

If you’re not sure what you love, take the free Gift of Standout Assessment. 

Don’t deny what you love and what you’re meant to do because it may just eat you up from the inside.

Inspired by Love + Work by Marcus Buckingham

Photo by whoislimos

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When asked about the drivers for his career success, John highlights these three key elements:

1. Find an organization that aligns with your values

John’s values and those of HSBC aligned perfectly and, that, according to John, fueled his career success. Whether it was his conservative stance toward risk or the importance of doing something bigger than oneself, John felt this cultural fit allowed him to focus fully on his work. He advises anyone joining a new organization to closely observe the organization’s behaviors to make sure it matches the values it states and that those values match your own. Most organizations will have great-sounding values but do their senior leaders stay consistent with those values during difficult times? Do they defend people as they promise? Will they turn away business for the right reasons?

2. Run towards problems

When reflecting on his early career, John recognized his interest in tackling the bank’s most challenging issues when others tended to shy away from them. He noted that his interest and aptitude in dealing with difficult problems helped him attract mentors who took him under their wings. When asked how best to land a mentor, John recommends that you keep your focus on your own performance. Strong performance in itself will catch the right people’s attention. Leaders invest in you when they see your potential and drive to succeed. Of course, the personal chemistry between you and them counts too! Finally, if your organization has a formal mentoring program in place, John recommends actively taking advantage of it.

3. Capitalize on luck

John, the humble leader that he is, acknowledges the role of luck in his career. He reached the top because he was in the right place at the right time on several occasions. At the same time, his work ethic allowed him to showcase his skills when the right opportunities arose. When asked about navigating corporate politics, John highlights the importance of recognizing that we are all part of a politicized situation (“You aren’t stuck in traffic. You are traffic.”). He recommends analyzing how incentives work in your system especially if you feel like the system is political in a way that is not helpful. Once you understand the incentives, it may become clear why people are doing what they are doing.

In addition to the drivers for his career success, John also discussed the leadership lessons he learned at the helm of HSBC.

On Leading a New Team

For any new leadership role, John suggests that you start with listening. Let the people in your new group know that you want to hear what they have to say and create an environment where they can be candid with you. These conversations will help you best diagnose the situation as you formulate your plan forward. Also, if you’re feeling nervous about your new role, keep in mind that the people who report to you are likely feeling even more anxiety. Show empathy for your people, especially during this transition period.

On Managing a Crisis

Despite the work and stress that comes with handling a crisis, John recalls one of the most significant lifts in his career came after he successfully navigated his organization through a crisis. He believes a crisis accelerates your growth as a leader because you must make more decisions in a shorter amount of time. When asked how he deals with a crisis, John suggests viewing it as a series of waves. “You take the hit from the first wave, get your head back above water, and brace for the second wave.” As a leader, John emphasizes the importance of psychologically preparing your team to focus on the incoming waves rather than spend too much time trying to get back to the way things were. To stay resilient during tough times, John relied on trusted individuals in his professional and personal networks to share what he was going through. Lastly, as a leader, no matter how difficult the situation, you should always have a view on what to do.

On Working for “Bad” Leaders

If you’re working for a leader you don’t respect, John advises that you not worry too much about it. He emphasizes, “Good leaders teach you how to be, and bad leaders can teach you how not to be. As you build your own leadership skills understanding this can help you learn from any boss – whether you respect them or not.”

When asked about his selection criteria for his executive team, John looks for the following qualities:

• Integrity – will they make the right decision when no one is looking?
• Willingness to learn – do they keep striving to be better every day?
• Impact on others – when the person enters a room, is the room energized or deflated? How do they treat people when under pressure?

John adds that he’s personally drawn to people who are both brilliant and humble. Two red flags: First, when a person’s brilliance impacts others negatively. Second, overly selfish behavior. Once someone shows they are no longer willing to serve something bigger than themselves, John will likely start planning for a change.

On Understanding Your Value

John emphasized that most people can readily answer how much money they’ve made that fiscal quarter. Yet, few people can answer how that money was made. John advises leaders to be curious and thoughtful about understanding how they and their enterprise make their money. He recommends that you know it well enough to explain it clearly to a ten-year-old. By recognizing the ways you truly add value to your organization, you will know where you stand and come up with ways to become more valuable.

John wraps up the fireside chat with his leadership philosophy,

“A leader’s most profound responsibility is to create the best possible environment for the people they are leading so they can fulfill their potential and do the work that they need to do.”

For any Wharton Alums who would like access to the full recording of this fireside chat, send a message here.

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“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.

Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

– Rumi, Persian Poet, Theologian and Scholar

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Exercise for your future health? Continuous learning for your future career moves? Time spent with your loved ones for your future relationships?

 

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.

– Abraham Lincoln, American President

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If you’re aspiring to join the C-suite and beyond, the tips below may help:

Speak effectively about your work

All candidates considered for senior-level roles are qualified. The biggest differentiator is your ability to effectively communicate the work you’re doing. You want to educate others about your accomplishments in a memorable and likable way.  Learn to be a spokesperson for the amazing work you’ve done and share the lessons learned that can help others in the organization. Avoid the trap of focusing only on the pursuit and execution of your goals without communicating the results you’re achieving.

Executive recruiters can’t extract the complexity of what you’ve done from your resume without your narration. Recruiters for senior-level positions expect a healthy list of impactful accomplishments. On-time and on-budget are no longer enough. What grabs their attention is the candidate who can go beyond WHAT they accomplished and articulate HOW they accomplished it.

• Can you clearly demonstrate your ability to bring people along with you?
• Did your relationships deepen after the assignment or did people want to lean away from you?
• How did you drive transformation and what was the specific business impact?

Get personal

One of the board directors at the session mentioned that she was passed up for a C-suite level role because her board didn’t “know her”. She recognized that she only talked about business with the board and skipped the relational stuff, worrying that the board directors were too senior for small talk. Since then, she’s made the time to connect more personally with these important decision-makers and not only did she make it to the top job at her firm, she’s now an independent director on several public and private boards.

Stay connected and be helpful

If you are shooting for a C-suite role, what are you doing to get relevant face time with individuals who are exposed to high-level opportunities? To get in front of key decision-makers, find time to reconnect with senior-level contacts in your industry, grab lunch with executive recruiters, or join a non-profit board. Once you do connect, deepen your impression by finding ways to authentically help the people around you. Sponsors and mentors are also critical. If you don’t have any, that’s a warning sign. According to one executive, if you want others to advocate for you, first, they must like you. Then they must believe you generate good ideas. And lastly, they must believe you can execute.

Take the high-visibility assignments

To get noticed in your organization, work on projects and initiatives that matter. This will probably mean taking a risk that’s outside your comfort zone. Figure out what is keeping your executives up at night and volunteer to help solve their problem. Remember that for senior-level projects, you can’t win by yourself since the scope of your projects will likely be enterprise-wide. You’ll need to work with others to succeed and build a track record of delivering results. What are you doing now to build up your influence structure to succeed across your organization?

Understand and assimilate key trends

In the past, recruiters were looking for leaders who were decisive and could make tough calls. Now, they are also looking for softer skills – the ability to relate to the workforce and think about diversity, to name a few. As an aspiring leader, you should focus on the business impact of prevailing trends. How will artificial intelligence change the profit and loss equation? How do you think through your investments around cybersecurity? How do you leverage international assignments to add value to your company? How does diversity impact your organization?

Focus on Employability as opposed to Employment

When you’re assessing professional opportunities, think about the skills you need to enhance your employability. Don’t get hung up on a particular function, job track, or title. Leverage your current role to improve how you add value and leave the role better than when you found it. Find ways to build core business skills, connect with key stakeholders, and raise your public profile. You want your boss to know that you’re agile and an asset to any employer. Summed up memorably by one of our senior speakers,

“I love you and the organization. But please don’t confuse that with needing you and the organization.” 

Play politics well

In most companies, politics exist because you have limited resources and competing motivations. At the most senior levels, this dynamic is supercharged because ambitions are bigger, and all the players are good at getting what they want. If you’re not willing to play politics, you’ll be a victim of politics. Learn to read the people around you. Are they looking out for themselves or looking out for the organization? What makes them tick?

One board director recalled the importance of asserting yourself without making others look bad. She recounted a time when someone was claiming credit for her work and instead of calling it out, she found it very effective to play dumb. Instead of, “Why are you taking credit for my work?“, she said, “I heard this was represented in this way. Is there anything I can clarify to help you move forward with your goals?” The other person got the message.

Rising to the pinnacle of your organization is not easy but if you can speak effectively about your work, build authentic relationships, and help others achieve their goals, you’ll have a good shot.

Photo by Benjamin Child

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I was catching up with one of my fellow partners after a heated meeting and I found myself apologizing for pushing the team harder than they want to be pushed.

He responded, “Robert, next time, think about this apology before you do what you do. Either don’t push people hard or don’t apologize for it if you feel justified to do so. It’s not effective leadership to keep doing the same thing and apologizing for it.”

This brief comment has been effective in reminding me to think before I act. It has helped me be more purposeful to avoid actions that would require an apology in the future. It has also given me the courage to not apologize for behaviors I don’t feel are wrong.

If you find yourself apologizing frequently for being late, not responding, or being unprepared, think about your apology before you decide to leave your house 15 minutes later, put off an email request, or decide to wing it.

What do you find yourself typically apologizing for?

Photo by Matthew Henry

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Speak your mind when it adds value

Sol credits his meteoric rise to his brashness and courage to speak his mind. Early in his career, he spoke up about a product’s lack of effectiveness at an executive committee meeting. This got him noticed by the chairman who put him in charge of fixing the problem. He encourages anyone who has an idea that adds value to the company to speak up and to share those thoughts. When asked how he mustered the courage to do that, he said, “I didn’t know any better“. To help you decide when to speak up, ask yourself, “Is there something important that should be said that’s not being said right now?”

Look at everything and learn constantly

Sol cautions that if you do speak your mind, make sure you know what you’re talking about. He strongly believes that amassing knowledge is key to being successful. Whether it’s reading books and journals, listening to key experts, or studying with an institution, find ways to get up to speed on your business. The more knowledgeable you are, the better off you’ll be. This echoes advice from both Alex Gorsky, CEO of J&J, and Mary Barra, CEO of GM. Looking into everything doesn’t mean you’re going to get into the details every time, it means being adept at navigating a conversation at 50,000 feet and at 50 feet when needed.

Understand the rules of the game

Sol recognized early on that the rules of the game in business were not created for a Latino. Although he would be justified to be mad at the unfairness of the system, he knew that would be counterproductive. He understood that for him to win, he’ll need to be 5 to 10 times better than his peers. He also wanted to stay committed to his family so instead of going for rounds of golf, he threw himself into working hard on the business and spent his energy getting better as opposed to wishing the world around him was different.

Get good feedback

“Feedback is really good if you take it and learn from it” – Sol emphasized this point as one of the core factors for how he has been able to sustain his success. As he was rising in his career, he received feedback on his brashness and was able to learn how to get people to perform without the harshness he was using to communicate his expectations. What feedback are you getting from others? What feedback can you give to yourself?

Innovate to grow and compete

When Ken Chenault, former CEO of American Express, spoke at this same conference last year, he said, “if you’re not moving, you’re falling back.” Sol had a similar message where he stresses that every leader must consider two D’s – Digital and Diversity. He talked about the importance to adapt to new technologies and set up a team that allows you to diagnose a problem from different perspectives. To get buy-in for innovation, you must show conviction, passion, and knowledge about the Why and clear thinking about the What. 

What impressed me most about Sol was his courage to stand up for what is right. During his CEO role at Telstra, he faced a number of racist encounters around his Mexican heritage. When his wife asked him why he doesn’t just quit and pursue easier opportunities, he said it’s exactly because of these incidents that he could not quit and didn’t want to allow such ignorance to scare him off.

Photo from Morgan Stanley Senior Multicultural Conference #SMLC19

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What are you willing to do now that others are not willing to do? These actions and sacrifices will be what separates you from them in the future.

 

“Today I will do what others won’t so tomorrow I can do what others can’t.”

– Jerry Rice, American Football All Star

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These were the questions I asked myself during Professor Stew Friedman’s Total Leadership program at Wharton. What attracted me to take this course was Stew’s concept that work-life balance doesn’t work because it implies having to make trade-offs. Instead of managing life as slices of a pie that gets smaller or bigger at the expense of each other, his alternative was to consider different areas of your life as independent circles that can potentially overlap with each other.

This new construct helped me unlock the creativity to better optimize my life and it has transformed the way I live and work.

Before this course, I felt at the whim of my goals and the needs of my stakeholders. I felt forced to make tradeoffs in one area of my life because of the demands of another area and instead of leading my life, it was leading me. The process I learned in this live workshop with peer coaching helped me gain control over the important areas of my life. You’ll see below five insights that might be helpful to you as you think about leading all areas of your life:

Lead Your Life: Don’t Use One Area of Your Life to Make Excuses for Another Area

Before this program, I would often feel guilty that I did not get home early enough to spend time with my kids. I would use work as my excuse and rationalize that now is the time to focus on my career and once I’ve “made it”, I can carve out more time for family. Along the same vein, I would use my two young sons as the excuse for not exercising. I would tell myself, “How can I afford to work out if I don’t even have enough time to spend with my kids?” Then I would use the time I needed for work, school, family, and exercise to justify why I slept on average only five hours each night.

I found myself often saying how much I wanted to do these things but explaining how I couldn’t because of the many legitimate excuses that I had. Looking back, that was a weak way of living. This experience has taught me to either do what I say is important to do or stop saying it’s important to me. Either way is fine but continuing to make excuses is not.

As part of this course, we all conducted personal experiments. For my experiments, I committed to getting 7+ hours of sleep, getting home before 7pm during most of the work week, and exercising daily, which included running 2x a week. I was initially skeptical since I’ve had so many false starts trying to implement similar positive habits but I’m excited to share that so far I’ve not only sustained these habits but I just completed my first half-marathon after never running a race in the past.

What made the difference this time was clarifying the vision I wanted for my life and taking control to bring that vision to life. Essentially, leading myself to where I wanted to go.

Sleep Really Matters

I was lucky to choose sleeping 7+ hours as one of my experiments because there was no habit change that yielded faster and more drastic results than getting 7+ hours of sleep. I used to subscribe to the “you can sleep when you retire” and “I’m successful because I work harder and longer than everyone else” mantra. I’m beginning to see the fault in this thinking and realizing that I may have spun my wheels more often than I am aware of or care to admit.

After consistently getting 7+ hours of sleep, I noticed my mood becoming more positive and relaxed. What surprised me the most was that I immediately stopped craving coffee (I was drinking about 2-3 cups a day for the last few years).

I also found sleeping sufficiently a linchpin habit. The days when I was well rested, I almost always completed every other habit change along with my work and school goal for that day. It allowed me to exercise more self-control and discipline.

Create Constraints to Force Creativity

Forcing myself to get home early, sleep enough hours, and exercise daily meant taking time away from other areas of my life, especially work. Initially, I was worried I wouldn’t get my work done leading to adverse consequences. What I found instead was the most important work was still getting done and since my deadlines were tighter, I became more effective with my time. Having less time for work began to prevent me from over-engineering my work and school projects.

It also helped me to be more creative about my time. Instead of agreeing to drinks or dinner with a client, I would offer to meet for breakfast or lunch so I can keep my commitment to get home early. I started running and working out with other people as a great way to catch up with them. Interestingly, by creating constraints and forcing myself to keep these new habits, the quality of my life has increased at home and at work.

Be the Building Block for Other People’s Goals

One of the key exercises in the Total Leadership process was to set up conversations with the most important stakeholders in the different areas of your life. The goal is to ask your stakeholders about their expectations for you and how you’re doing in meeting those expectations.

Holding these conversations, I realized that I often see people around me as building blocks to my success and drive our interactions in the direction of my agenda and accomplishing my goals. Hearing people’s expectations of me have made me realize that other people have their own needs and aspirations and to create long-term, positive relationships with them, I need to be the building block for their goals and success.

If you want people to see you as a leader, they first have to recognize that their life will be better because they follow you. There is no better way to do that than to become a critical part in their quest for success and meaning.

Grow the Relationships You Take for Granted

Every year I have clear goals to improve and to grow my career. It seems like the natural thing to do. What’s interesting is when I reflect on my closest relationships, I don’t have the same aspirational tendency. I don’t think about growing these relationships and at best, the relationship stays where it is. The only time I pay attention is when the relationship gets strained and I spend just enough energy to get it back to the original level.

Applying the same growth mentality from my career to my personal relationships, I asked my wife, family, and others close to me what we needed to do to take our relationship to the next level. Just by having these conversations, my key relationships are beginning to thrive and grow and it’s having a positive impact on other areas of my life. When you ask people about their needs and truly listen, they often become open to sincerely understanding your needs. Another benefit to this exercise is it allows you to decide which relationships may not be worth investing in because the other person doesn’t want to engage.

To start this journey, craft the vision for your life and clarify your values. You choose the life you want to have and the key idea is to align your actions to bringing to life your vision. Stay attuned to how you’re tracking to your vision and continue iterating with experiments to find overlap in the different circles of your life.

If you would like to dive in deeper, check out Stew’s Total Leadership book, which outlines the exercises in his process. You can also take the Coursera version of the course.

Photo by Brooke Lark

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His practical and authentic lessons show why Ken is one of the most successful and respected CEOs of our time. As you read his insights below, you’ll see that he really means it when he says, “It is a privilege, not an entitlement, to lead.” An excellent reminder for anyone who leads or aspires to lead their organization.

Be Compassionate and Decisive

Great leaders understand that it’s important to take care of their people and stay accountable to the business when they make decisions. Leaders sometimes shy away from compassion because they confuse it with being indecisive or unable to make tough decisions. Ken showed his ability to balance these two qualities as he recounted the tough decision he made to lay off 15,000 employees after the economic downturn.

He believes that in these tough situations, people don’t deserve what’s happening to them but the circumstances demand it. In these critical moments, it’s up to leaders to show that they care and to take care of their people. Despite having to make this difficult but necessary business decision, Ken displayed compassion by devoting resources to help displaced employees find new jobs and opportunities. He held his executive team responsible for employee engagement and tied their compensation to an employee satisfaction survey sent to both existing employees and those who were let go. His actions during this time were given high ratings by both these groups. Ken reminded all of us that leaders who fail to take care of the business and its people will lose their privilege to lead.

Constantly challenge the status quo

“If you’re not moving, you’re falling back”. Ken stressed the importance of being innovative and striving to become the company that will put your current company out of business. He argued that it is not just about managing competitive threats, it’s about understanding what customers want and to focus the firm on better serving those needs. His litmus test for whether a leader or company is serious about innovation – look at the organization’s actions and the size of their R&D investments.

Know and run your business well

“Stay liquid, be profitable, and selectively invest in growth.” This fundamental lesson has come up in talks from both Alex Gorsky, CEO of Johnson and Johnson, and Mary Barra, CEO of GM. It’s worth paying attention to and as a leader, Ken believes that it is your job to think through the consequences of your decisions. As echoed in billionaire investor Ray Dalio’s Principles, you want to have a strong sense of your reality and go beyond 1st order consequences. The ability to look at the 2nd and 3rd order impact of your decisions will help you better lead your organization and yourself.

Strive to be a better leader, not to be CEO  

Ken never aspired to be CEO when he first agreed to work for American Express until he was approached with the possibility later in his career. He just focused on adding value to the company. If you are great at what you do and ambitious, you are probably on the fast track to the top. Once you recognize that, it is easy to play it safe and be more calculated and self-focused in your approach. Avoid this tendency. Don’t be a “maintainer” – keep taking risks and focus on helping the company and those around you succeed.

It is hard to get 1) the top spot if you’re just managing what already exists and 2) people to follow you if they feel like your actions are just about you and forwarding your agenda. No one cares if you get promoted unless it helps them achieve their goals.

Place a high premium on integrity and trust

Ken values these two qualities above many others because they are the basis for forming your reputation inside and outside your company. Periodically ask yourself,

“How consistent are my words and actions?”

Your answer to this question will tell you whether you are leading your life or your life is leading you. Ken ends his talk by emphasizing that all leaders should clarify their values and know their priorities. What do you live for? What’s the inspiring vision you have for your life?

Ken’s vision for himself is to “be successful as a person who stands for something”. What’s yours?

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