Why That Big Promotion Can Be a Curse

By Steve Tobak

July 26th, 2010 @ 11:41 am

4 Comments

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Categories: Board Management, CEO, CEO Succession, Entrepreneurialism, Executive Focus...

Tags: Jerry Yang, BP Plc, CEO, Crisis Management, Sales Force Management...
 You spend years, maybe decades, climbing the corporate ladder. Then one day,
it happens. You’re named CEO. At that moment, a lifetime of dreams, hard work, and
achievement come to fruition. 

Being the consummate professional, you act nonchalant as everyone from loved ones to business
contacts you hardly know shower you with congratulatory sentiment. But deep inside, your
feelings overflow. This is the moment you’ve always lived for. This is your crowning life
achievement.

And as the days go by and all the fervor calms down, you really start to settle into the role. It
feels good. It feels right. You feel like you’ve died and gone to corporate heaven.

Until, one day, it all falls apart. All too soon, you’re yanked off that lofty pedestal and falling
further than you ever imagined an ego can fall. And you find yourself desperately wishing you’d
never ever heard of those three initials: C - E - O.

Sound overly dramatic? Well, it’s not. I can tell you from experience; it’s not. And it’s not just
about CEOs; it can happen with any big promotion. Just ask Tony Hayward of BP.

I’m likely the only commentator who thinks so, but Tony Hayward is a good man and a good CEO
who found himself in the mother of all no win situations. Even after some heated debate on my
In Defense of BP CEO Tony Hayward post and now, assorted academians and crisis-management
“gurus” squawking about how, in hindsight, Hayward Fell Short of Modern CEO Demands, I
remain unconvinced that anyone in that position could have done better. I would love to see all
the critics take a stab at it.

And now that BP is dumping its lightening-rod to save its brand and appease the American
public, the media will have a field day with Hayward’s reported $18 million exit package, 90
percent of which is his 28-year pension, mostly as a senior executive, which accounts for all the
zeros. He deserves every penny. And, he’ll be giving up a reported 546,000 share options and up
to 2 million shares under a long-term incentive plan that today is worth about $13 million. 

Or you can ask Yahoo’s Jerry Yang. When Yahoo needed a seasoned turnaround specialist, the
board, in all its wisdom, took all of a week and decided to promote the co-founder and Chief
 Yahoo to CEO. Unfortunately, Yang was a novice who’d never run a company, let alone turned
one around - an extraordinarily challenge for even the most seasoned and talented chief
executive.

Yang promptly fell flat on his face, botching a sweetheart $33 a share bailout from Microsoft that
would have netted Yahoo investors more than $20 billion. Instead, Yang reorganized again and
again, a huge morale and productivity killer that resulted in one of the most crippling talent
drains in corporate history. More than 100 executives jumped ship.

Now, don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying you should feel sorry for CEOs. They’re adults who are
capable of living with their own decisions and actions. That’s how it is and how it should be.
What I am saying is that it can happen to you. It can be a C-Level job or even a promotion to VP
or GM. So, when you get that big promotion, here’s some advice I learned from experience that
can save you a lot of pain and anguish:

Don’t take yourself too seriously. Self-importance isn’t real. On the contrary, it’s completely
subjective, by definition. Never forget that you’re just a man or woman, no more, no less. You
bleed and cry, just like everyone else. And what goes up, all too often, comes down in a hurry.
The higher the pedestal you set yourself up on, the bigger the fall.

Look, running a company is heady stuff, but it’s also risky business. Most fail. A few don’t. Either
way, there can be huge ups and down, and everything’s magnified if you choose to look at it that
way. But that’s entirely up to you. If you ask me, and I’m sure Tony and Jerry would agree,
you’ll be better off if you just keep your feet planted firmly on the ground.

Image of CEO Tony Hayward Courtesy BP

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1
Mcoker
07/27/10 | Report as spam

RE: Why That Big Promotion Can Be a Curse

Well said Steve, the vilification of Tony Hayward and the

band wagon criticism by the so called media management and
consulting gurus as well as other talking heads on the US
networks is symptomatic of our collective detachment from
dealing with real issues and unseemly focus on image. The
accident happened, yes, BP mobilized to address it, yes, the
leak has been stopped, (even if temporarily) yes, the worst
possible effects of the spillage have been somehow avoided
yes, but that is not enough so Tony has to go.

  

2
neil licht
07/27/10 | Report as spam

RE: Why That Big Promotion Can Be a Curse

As you jump into your new role, Its very probable that you may not have either the experience
nor the acquired wisdom, or the demeanor to visibly and directly manage or lead in the specific
areas that you were promoted to accomplish.

THats not a "crime", but not knowing that and how to reach out to those who do is where many
fail in their new super job.

Success may come only if you realize that and do that openly and value the process as a two
way street.

This means that:

---the first thing that you do in your new position is honestly assess your own experience with
the particular challanges at hand
---decide if you are the right person to deal with each part of the business and or challanges that
you identify or have been specifically charged with managing.

This is espescially true when you inadvertantly become be the public spokesperson and you are
not at all good at being in the public spotlight.
So, follow this roadmap as a new and ongoing (CEO, Chief....etc)

1, First, start off immediately by being honest with yourself and do a self assessment re what
you really can and can not totally understand, manage, do, grapple with

2. Do the same with every dept under your responsibility re your own abilities to understand how
each works at a management, operational, decision making, action-result level
--- Thoroughly understand the roles of these depts and where you do and do not have expertise
of your own in their dept

3. Next, ID the folks in your company that can deal with the areas in item 2 and are indeed
"expert" or as a situation arises, can, by experience and training, deal with a particular situation
as it arises and do so extremely well. That becomes your "go to" team alreadt ID's and ready to
tap when needed.

4. Make these people your "cabinet" of sorts and let yourself consult with this Cabinet. Doing so
is not a sign of weakness, its a sign of strength because you recognize that their expertise may
be better than your own. Learn to trust their input and ask that it be given in "Layperson" terms.

5.Put one of these identified "right" people in charge who can deal with situations as they arise
and tell the world that they are the point person, then direct questions or comments to them.

6. State " AS the new (position), I'm not a know it all but I do have an amazing group of people
who do have specialties and specific expertise in my company-My job is to understand that and
coordinate their collective expertise so we all succed and thats exactly what I intend to do as
(position)."

7. Spead that message everywhere on purpose and then be visible in actually doing and
practicing what you "preached".

8. Openly Credit the person or group that solved an issue publicly for doing so in PR, to
stockholders, in public interviews and right on up to the board and stockholders being aware of
this. Thats looked at as being a good manager - using the best resources to solve and manage
issues so do not be afraid of sharing the spotlight.

You are then a great leader, manager, allowed mistakes, respected and most important can
succeed because as (position), you lead and managed your entire team towards success by
letting them use their expertise and be valued for having it to use. Incidentally, it also keeps
great employees on board instead of jumping ship when you need them the most!

Doing all of this is NOT WAEKNESS, ITS STRENGTH as a chief (CEO, etc) because it allows for

1. using the best resources to tackle issues that others, not necessarily you are best equipped to
tackle
2. you are seen as the person who is truly "piloting" the company so it remains on course,
grows, sees the changes it needs happen and thrives as a result.

Neil Licht, ndlicht, callhereweare, - tactical and strategic messaging and retooling to capture
prospects and customers in our changed world http://ucanpreventbadhires.blogspot.com/