Excerpt

CHAPTER SIX: ANSWERING TO A HIGHER AUTHORITY

ESTABLISHING A PRODUCTIVE WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR BOARD

Although his responsibilities as president and CEO of the aircraft engine and lighting divisions at GE had given Jim McNerney plenty of experience in running a business, managing people, and setting vision and executing strategy before his arrival at 3M, he says that he had had only limited exposure to corporate governance and was not fully prepared for the relationship with the 3M board.

“You’d be amazed at how naïve I was about all that,” he recalls. “I never knew that CEOs brought their operating management to board meetings until I left GE, and then I learned that most people do. I had to figure out how it all worked. So I asked a lot of questions: How does the committee structure work? What issues go where? I developed some close relationships with a couple of the guys on the search committee, and we had some of those discussions even before I showed up at 3M.

“I had a lot to learn and I’m still learning. I network with other CEOs who are friends. I network with our board. I’ve joined two other boards [Boeing and Procter & Gamble]. All these things help.”

Paul Pressler was tossed in the deep end during his first week as CEO of Gap Inc. “I had been in Disney board meetings [when he was chairman of Disney’s theme parks and resorts business] but only to present an operational update or business plan,” he recalls. “I had never sat through a formal corporate board meeting; I really had no idea what to expect.

“In the first meeting I focused on people, observations about the business, and what I wanted from the board. At the end of the meeting I apologized for not being buttoned up.”

As it turned out, Pressler’s straightforward candor and disarming confession about being a neophyte was exactly the right approach. The board was thrilled at the prospect of starting a partnership based on mutual openness and respect. “Later, when I started to present strategy to them, they were very dynamic and engaged.”

The analog for non-CEOs is that it is important to sit down with your new boss and ask how he or she would like to work. How does he like to establish priorities? How and how often does she want to be updated? Is he more comfortable with formal written updates or more fluid progress reports? Does she prefer e-mail or voicemail? What special rules are there for communicating outside the department or company?

In addition, talk to other people in the company who have experience working with your boss. What do they observe about what works well and poorly? How is your boss perceived outside her department? What kinds of results and initiatives would enhance your boss’s reputation inside the company?

Develop your own point of view on how to make your boss successful. Come to an agreement on how she likes to work and what she expects of you. Then revisit this after a few weeks and see what needs to be changed or can be improved. Remember that no single person has more direct influence on your short- or medium-term career success than your boss. Figure out how she likes to work and how to support her success, and tailor your efforts accordingly. Doing so will create a lot of momentum for getting off to the right start.

Copyright © 2005 by Esaress Holding, Ltd.