Learn Long-term Self Leadership

Ralph is not the name of the individual involved, but the story below is true.

Ralph was really worked up! The CEO had just named one of his fellow sales reps as interim sales manager.

“I deserve that promotion!” Ralph exclaimed to the CEO of his company. “I’ve been a loyal employee, I have seniority over the person you picked as interim manager. And before coming to work for you, I held a similar managerial position in another city!”

The CEO told him that he would be able to apply for the position if he wanted to. This didn’t set well with Ralph, but he wrote a resume and hand delivered it to the CEO, telling him as he gave it to him, “I don’t know why I have to do this, you know my work.”

True, the CEO knew Ralph’s work. Early on in his career, Ralph had been a real go-getter. He often won sales contests and usually was the number one sale rep in the company. But things had changed over the past several years. Ralph had become complacent, he tried to cherry pick the deals he worked on, he was always working on “big deals” (that always failed to materialize), tended to become sullen if his manager tried to motivate him, and tended to antagonize his coworkers by both his attitude and actions.

To make a long story short, Ralph didn’t get the promotion. Yes, he had been a loyal employee. Yes, if you overlooked the last five years, he had a successful track record. Yes, he did have seniority. And, True, he had held a similar position (but with a much smaller company and fewer direct reports) in another city. The current Ralph was trying to convince the CEO that he deserved to be promoted because the old Ralph had proven himself to be a leader. Unfortunately, the sullen, antagonistic, cherry picking, always working on a big deal Ralph of today lacked the qualities that had made the old Ralph a leader.

A leader is someone who takes ownership of an idea, sets the vision, goals and tone required to attempt to achieve objectives. Too often we think of leadership in the narrow sense of someone who is in charge of a group of workers. But in truth, we are all leaders because we must learn to lead ourselves before we can move forward in our career or become the leader of other people.

Ralph, like so many of us who have “been there, done that” had started his career with positive expectations, had learned his product and applied the personal leadership skills necessary to lead himself to success. But, having attained a certain level of success, he failed to continue to provide himself with the personal leadership necessary to even maintain the momentum he had created.

The result was that his performance eroded over the years. Instead of embracing new ways of doing things, he continued to talk about the deals he did eight or ten years back. Rather than working to ensure good relationships in the sales department, he often unwittingly created tension by his attitude toward coworkers. While Ralph’s sales numbers were good enough (barely) to keep him from being dismissed, he wasn’t seriously considered for any leadership role.

Positive Precept From This Story: To be considered leadership material, you must prove yourself a consistent leader. So, regardless of how long you’ve been in your career, remember that to continue to grow professionally you must continue to provide yourself with the same intensity of personal leadership that you applied when you first began working.

Determine right now to give yourself the kind of leadership that will ensure that you have a Great and Profitable Week!
Robert Hidde
bob@confidentliving.com