Confidence 1

This is the second of the areas in which you need to excel identified by Debbie Benton in CEO Material. It comprises six elements.

Feeling broadly adequate

Many people have problems with this one. Is broadly adequate enough? Surely it’s the outstanding people who get to the top? I suggest that isn’t really so. Indeed there are some absolutely  outstanding managers and CEOs, but actually not all that many. If a group of middle managers were asked to name the most outstanding manager they know, I suspect that only a few names would be on each of their lists. Is your boss outstanding? Is your boss’s boss outstanding? (You do not have to share these thoughts with them!).

Debra Benton suggests that if you accept that you are broadly adequate, you have reason to feel quite self-confident, and self-confidence is what you need.

Being decisive

Few people have doubts about this one. But pause for a moment. What does it mean to be ‘decisive’? Basically it means making decisions, which are (far) more often right than wrong. You can take your time over making them. Being decisive doesn’t mean making momentous decisions instantly – like they do on TV. Being decisive means adopting a process for making decisions that generally leads to effective decisions. It includes being focused and setting goals.

Although you make the decision, the decision-making process should not include you alone. Take advice, ask other people and probe their advice to you, but a CEO cannot offer the excuse that the decision was made by a committee. S/he is is accountable for his/her decisions, and many a CEO has lost his/her job because his/her decisions were wrong. You must be accountable for your decisions at your own managerial level. After all, you are the CEO of your department!

Seeking honest feedback and improving on it

This is one of the things that is very difficult to do, especially in an Asian environment, where seeking feedback from those who report to you is not normal practice. As a long term resident in   Asia, I think this is a pity, and is inhibiting to effective management. But having said that, it would be wrong to give the impression that seeking feedback – we’ll think about ‘honest’ in a moment – is extremely common practice in the west either. Far from it in my experience.

In my early days in industry, I worked for an oil company who sent middle managers who were thought to be CEO material away on a learning program in a quiet place. They went through a series of psychological tests and interviews and shared the results of questionnaires about them, some of which had been completed by their staff. The process was described by one manager who had been through it as being taken apart for a couple of days and then being put back together again. One manager in particular went through the process and came back with the report which was made up on every participant. On his return, he called all of his staff together and shared with them his report. He held nothing back, and asked all his staff to feel free to talk with him to explain why they had assessed him as they had, and to help him overcome the deficiencies in his performance that they had identified.

There was no stampede to do this, but eventually some brave souls did accept this invitation. Interestingly, that man was the only one from that batch who attained CEO level. I share that story to let you know that I think Debra Benton is absolutely correct in her advice, but, my word, it takes great courage. Courage, of course is also a CEO characteristic.

More on this theme next time. Stay tune.

Bob