FROM MANAGING A CAREER TO TRAVERSING CAREERS: what the winners do and how you can learn from them.

FINANCIAL EXECUTIVES INTERVIEW BY DIANE ALBERGO OF MARYANNE PEABODY AND DR. LAURENCE J. STYBEL OF STYBEL PEABODY LINCOLNSHIRE, February 24 2004:

YOU SAY FREE AGENCY IS BOTH TRUE AND MISLEADING

Economists like Robert Reich and popular business magazines like BUSINESS 2.0 began to write about Free Agent Nation:  Under a free agent model, executives have careers that resemble professional sports stars, smoothly shifting from one major league team to another major league team through the work of third parties. In the sports and entertainment sectors, these third parties are called Agents.  In other sectors, these third parties are called recruiters.

This model implied executives smoothly move from one senior executive position to another.  The Free Agent model may work for “name brand” executives who come from “name brand” companies.  But it would be misleading to assume it works for all executives. 

Let’s look at Sports, Diane.

Professional athletes are an elite segment of the general population.  Within this elite segment, only 10-15% of this elite group can count on the Free Agent model to work in their favor.

For the 85^th percentile and below, when their contracts with one major league team are not renewed, there is no smooth transition.  It may mean going to the minor leagues or going out of the professionals and starting a new professional life.

And Diane, the free agent model doesn’t even work for the top 10-15% of the professional sports players forever.  Age takes away marketability for all of us.  Even the elite of the elite will find free agency wont’ work for them forever.

The model remains the same beyond the narrow world of sports:  Free Agency works for the top 10-15% of an elite group.  And even they can’t count on the Free Agent model to work for them forever.

YOU TALK ABOUT STOPPING TO MANAGE A CAREER UP THE LADDER AND START TRAVERSING YOUR CAREERS.  WHAT DO YOU MEAN? 

Let’s assume, Diane, that FEI listeners buy our argument that the free agent model is both true and misleading.

The basis of the free agent model says winners smoothly leap from full time job to full time job.

The notion of moving from a “good” corporate job to “Temporary Help” as a consultant or an interim executive can be both humiliating and painful.

But it is the way the world works for most of us.

And it doesn’t mean you are a failure.

This is a critical concept, Diane, for executives to grasp.  And it is a critical concept for nonworking spouses of executives to grasp.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN? 

Here is an example from our practice:

We work with executives like Jack every day.  His story is both unhappy and common.  It need not have ended this way. 

OK, BUT WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH TRAVERSING CAREERS INSTEAD OF MANAGING A SINGLE CAREER?

Managing A career often assumes upward progression.  The metaphor of a ladder is often use.

We use the metaphor of traversing.

The skiing term of traversing means moving from a straight line to a zig zag pattern along different terrain.  During your ski run you may traverse over ice patches, powder snow, or come up against moguls.

Moving up the ladder requires discipline.  Traversing requires discipline and flexibility.

Let’s get back to the example of Jack.

Jack needed to understand and accept that his career may have begun as an employee but it would most certainly end as a consultant.  Nor did he understand that a lifetime of work does not involve managing a single career comprised of a series of corporate jobs.  It is more like managing two careers – one focusing on employment assignments and the other focusing on project assignments.

This is what we call traversing careers as opposed to managing A career.

In our experience, less than fifty of the eight hundred executives we have worked with have mastered the discipline and flexibility required to be successful in traversing two different terrains or careers.  One career is called Employment Assignment or W-2 relationships.  The other career is called Project Assignment or 1099 relationships.

But they are both assignments.

SKI WITH YOUR EDGE

In traversing on skis, you lead with your ski edge.  Your edge gives you maneuverability.

In career traversing you lead with your skills edge.  Your edge gives you maneuverability through different terrain.

James is an example of one of our 50 executives:

By 1994, the recession had lifted, and one of James’ clients came to him for consulting assistance.  One consulting opportunity led to an offer to become Chief Operating Officer.  His assignment was to double the size of this medical products distribution company and then sell the company to a national player in the industry during a time when rollups were attractive IPOs. 

This assignment was completed within eighteen months. Once again James opened his consulting practice.  One of his clients was a nonprofit organization.  This consulting assignment brought him exposure to new areas like fund raising and working with agencies in Washington, DC.  This assignment was completed after two years. The contacts James developed brought him to the notice of a Board member of a non-profit company in his town.  James was offered the position of Chief Executive Officer for an Oregon human services organization.  It has a budget of $265 Million and its impact is felt state wide.

James has been a bank president, a distribution company COO, and a nonprofit CEO.  Between these Employment Assignments, there has been a constant theme of Project Assignment work that leads him to the next Employment Assignment.

James has had many job titles and in many different industries.  But he always leads with his edge.  What is James’ edge?

Here is what James says:

Again, the concept is in career traversing you lead with your edge and that gives you maneuverability to move over different terrains.

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Ted is another career traversing executive who has a clearly defined edge.

In commenting on his professional life, Ted finds himself a solid constant in a series of ever-changing Employment Assignments and Project Assignments:

LET’S MOVE ON TO MASTERY OF JOB CONTENT.  YOU LABEL THIS GOING FORM MANAGERIAL/PROVINCIAL TO TECHNICAL/COSMPOLITAN AND BACK AGAIN.  CAN YOU DEFINE THESE TERMS?

MASTERY OF JOB CONTENT:  from managerial/provincial to technical/cosmopolitan and back again.

In the employment assignment trajectory, managers do not do line work themselves.  They manage the line work of others. The higher one moves up the corporate ladder in  corporate leadership, mastery of management becomes more important than mastery of technical content.  Mastery of the unique political and cultural issues in accomplishing goals within the company is critical.  We call this combination of knowledge managerial/provincial.  Many large companies have in-house universities that are designed to be managerial/provincial. 

Even companies that send key executives to advanced management programs at global business schools are engaging in managerial/provincial logic.  It is provincial in that the advanced management program may have a world-class group of professors.  But when a company selects a Harvard Business School program over a University of Chicago program over an Amos Tuck type of program, they are making a provincial statement about what values/perspectives are most appropriate for that particular company. 

Mastery of managerial/provincial perspectives seldom is an asset when traversing to the project assignment terrain.

Consultants and interim executives are hired because of specific content expertise.  They are appreciated because they provide an understanding of how other companies in other industries handle similar problems.  We call this type of knowledge technical/cosmopolitan. 

It is a cliché to state that education is an on-going process throughout life.  We are taking that cliché one step further.

What we are saying, however, is that the pull of managerial/provincial versus technical/cosmopolitan should guide your selection for how to spend your scarce time for professional development.

Let me again speak about Ted, the CIO of a global financial services company:

Ted’s company would be supportive of him taking executive education programs in strategy or the management of R&D at highly ranked business schools. 

What is Ted doing?

Instead, Ted is taking a course on technology related to large database applications at a local community college. 

This is the type of course Ted would normally encourage for subordinates three or four Suites below him within the company. 

What is the logic behind Ted spending time at a community college?

THAT REQUIRES A GREAT DEAL OF MENTAL ABILITY TO MANAGE CAREER TRAVERSING.  (MP)

LET’S MOVE ON TO MASTERY OF RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT. YOU LABEL THIS GOING FORM NARROW BANDING TO BROAD BANDING.  LET’S DEFINE TERMS BEFORE WE MOVE ON. 

The demands of scarce executive time and leveragability over vendors make it attractive for corporations to have relationships with a few well-branded, large firms.  We call this move narrow banding of relationships.

Narrow banding of vendor relationships has been very popular these days.

Restricting outsourced work to well-known, large brand names is an easy decision and reduces political risks.  All executives know the saying, “Nobody was ever fired for bringing in IBM.”  Time saved through narrow banding of external relationships can be applied for critical internal relationship management issues.

Based on or work with corporations over the years, we believe narrow banding of external relationships is not in the company’s interests and certainly not in the interests of executives whose careers will traverse through employment and project assignments.

It is indeed true that no executive was ever fired for bringing in well-known name brand names into their companies.  It is also true that executives do not get promoted because they have reputations for setting their speed dialers for the “usual suspects.”  

When executives take the time to learn the best, most cost effective resources for their company’s needs, the company wins.  For example:

In an era where more non-core business functions are getting outsourced, senior executives with broadband relationships know that they can provide unique value to their employers.  One executive we know allocates one day a month from 4:30-6:00PM to meet new vendors and get a sense of what is going on. 

Diane, executives with sparkling careers avoid narrowing external relationships into a few large vendor buckets.  They want many relationships with many outstanding vendors, both large and small.   One of those relationships can help them move to their next assignment.

Narrow banding does a disservice to your employer and often fails to help your next career move.

Broad Banding is a win-win.

Broad-Banding of relationships is the winning strategy for career traversing. 

WHAT ADVISE WOLD YOU GIVE THOSE IN OUR AUDIENCE WHO ARE CURENTLY EMPLOYED?

Keep you network warm….always.

Our clients failure to grasp the traversing nature of careers management is most powerfully felt when leaders in the employment assignment phase let great networks grow cold. 

People are not enthusiastic about helping executives who only contact them when they  need favors.

On the other hand, the time demands of full time employment provide little ability to keep good networks warm.

Scarce time needs to be allocated strategically.

One CEO has outsourced his keeping the network warm.

The firm created a one-year “keep in touch” campaign that involves the firm designing and initiating a contact program for the executive.  We send out six mailings per year.

Each letter goes out on the CEO’s personal stationary.  The CEO only has to sign the letters with a personal note at the bottom of each letter. 

You don’t need to hire us.  If you can use your secretary, do it.  If not, contract out on a local basis.

Keeping the network warm is hard to implement. 

To move from good intentions to good actions, we recommend that clients schedule one hour a month in their calendars to make calls to the most important 20% of their network list.  If an executive as a contact list of 200, this means a staying in touch by phone with 40 people over a one-year period. That’s not hard to do over a one-year period.

That means reaching out to four people a month.

FEI members can do it if they schedule it in their electronic calendars.

 This can easily be accomplished by reserving one hour a month.  The agenda of such conversations is simply to remain in contact and to inquire how you might help the other person. 

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lstybel@stybelpeabody.com

www.boardoptions.com