Bootstrap Leadership Blog

What's it like to lead really smart, creative people?  Well, somebody's written a book about that, of course.  The book is called Clever (2009) and it’s by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones (authors of Why Should Anyone Be Led By You?).  It’s a quick and interesting read about those special people who make a disproportionate contribution to an organization.  Every company has them; those vital few employees or leaders that really make the company go – the ones who combine skill & talent and are at the top of the employee value chain.  There’s just one little problem – turns out clever people tend to be difficult to manage.

In describing “clevers”, the authors cite nine defining characteristics, as follows:

1. Their cleverness is central to their identity
2. Their skills are not easily replicated
3. They know their worth
4. They ask difficult questions
5. The are organizationally savvy
6. The are not impressed by corporate hierarchy (and don’t want to be led)
7. They expect instant access
8. They want to be connected to other clever people
9. They won’t thank you

That’s quite a list!  Know anyone like that at work?  Does this describe you, perhaps?  I won’t give away the rest of the book (I’m sure the authors would prefer you buy a copy), but it contains some very good advice about how to manage these individuals.  Needless to say, it involves being rather clever yourself – keeping an open mind and using nontraditional managerial methods. 

Are they worth it?  In most cases, yes.  The products, sales or ideas they build and generate can take your company places it couldn’t go otherwise…so you definitely don’t want to be the narrow-minded manager who causes clevers to leave and join your competition.  But they will challenge you (and maybe drive you crazy in the process).  In the end, managing clever people requires you to look at leadership a little differently.  Which is probably a good thing, don’t you think?

If you work in a big company, it seems logical that Wall Street cares about your talent management practices.  Or do they?  According to a new study by DDI, 36 of 50 Wall Street analysts surveyed said they rarely, if ever, look beyond the succession plans for the CEO when evaluating the company’s prospects.  In other words, the CEO is the only executive that matters to them.  Given that performance requires the coordinated efforts of many leaders, it’s surprising how little Wall Street is paying attention to your broader leadership pipeline. 

I used to ask my CEOs this question: “if I could magically pull out x number of leaders from our company, how many would I have to remove before we’d feel real (significant) pain?”  Most of the CEOs I worked for loved this question – it got them thinking about specific people, and how much they really contributed to the success of the company.  Some would answer with a very small number – say 10 or 15.  One CEO told me: “If you removed them randomly, the number might be pretty high.  But if you picked the right CRITICAL leaders, I’d get pretty worried after about 5 or 6 names.”

That seems right to me.  Maybe Wall Street doesn’t need to know all you’re doing to develop a deep bench of leadership capability throughout the organization.   But it seems like they ought to take an interest in the entire senior team, and maybe the high potential top talent that’s being groomed for that team. 

If you’re responsible for talent management in your company, you probably should add this question to your list: “What are we doing to help the analysts that cover us know our top talent?”  If they don’t care about anyone beyond your CEO, perhaps you need to give them a reason to!  

Let’s face it - you need your boss. Unless you work for yourself, the boss is still an organizational necessity, and a big part of your work experience. Your boss hands out work assignments, makes sure you get paid, keeps you from falling asleep in meetings, and hopefully protects you when you do something stupid. But sometimes the boss is the last to notice when you’re ready for something new. This is understandable. After all, they’re focused on making the team look good (not to mention themselves) and that can be a full-time job. No, it’s your job to manage your boss, and that includes telling her when you’re ready for something else. Like a new project or assignment, or even a new job somewhere else in the company.

Now, you have to bring a couple of things to this conversation. You can’t just walk in and say “I want to do something different”. First, you need to be on top of your current work – you better be knocking the ball out of the park, or asking for a better, cooler role is going to get you laughed out of her office. The one “must-have” for this discussion is a great performance record. It also helps to have a sense of the culture, and “how things work around here.” If you’ve only been in your role for a year, and the unwritten code is that managers need to “pay their dues”, well, you better factor that into your thinking. It’s probably going to be an issue.

Second, you have to bring a plan with you. You need to do your homework. You need to have an idea of what you want, and a few reasons why this is such a brilliant idea. You’re selling here, and you better be prepared to answer your boss’s questions. If you want to do more, why do you think you can take on more team members or responsibility? If you want to move to a new role, who will do your work? Who’s on the bench to replace you? Why do you need to make this move right now? What are your long-term career goals? Think through both sides of the conversation; anticipate what your boss is likely to say, feel and do – and be ready with your arguments. Prepare to defend your position, and try to steer the conversation toward why this is good for you and the company.

Lay out your ideal next job and the reasons why it makes sense. Maybe it’s expanding your current role or shedding some of what you do to focus on a specific task. Maybe it’s moving up in your current department, to a leadership position just above your current role. Or maybe it’s an entirely new job elsewhere in the company. Whatever it is, have your facts straight, and a strong rationale for your reasoning. Say: “here’s why I think this is good for me and the team/company.” Be firm, but don’t back her into a corner. The secret is to ask for her input and support in helping you achieve your goals. After telling her what you’d like to do, say: “I’d like to get your thoughts on this - what do you think?” And as the conversation goes along, don’t be afraid to ask for her support directly. Say: “can you help me make this happen?” or “is there anything else you need from me?”

Your immediate boss is probably the most important person in your work life, certainly as far as your career is concerned. Each boss you work for has the power to help you move forward, or put you in a box. They have the ability to accelerate your career, or frankly, derail it. Don’t be that manager who sits in the same job year after year waiting for the boss to offer a new and exciting role. Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, and go out and make the case for yourself. If you don’t do it, who will? Do you really want to risk putting your career in someone else’s hands? Make your boss an offer, present it with passion and conviction, and appeal to her sense of pride in helping you move your career forward. If you’ve nailed your current role, chances are good that your boss will be there for you. Just don’t be afraid to have the conversation!