輕鬆聽大師
俞國定導讀
你也有CEO基因
要當上CEO，不一定要有強大的背景或運氣。關鍵在於你的表現及行為，而多數人都能憑藉努力、專注及出色的技巧來勝任。
| 利用職涯轉捩點 |
大多數執行長的職涯道路類似以下這個樣子：
1追求廣度——在不同的單位工作，累積廣泛的技能及經驗。
2 追求深度—— 創造優異且可量化的績效，以培養領導技巧。
3 進入高層—— 開始檢視整個企業，並參與影響企業未來走向的決策。
如果你正努力問鼎執行長的位置，那麼你絕對不能只把職涯視為一連串職位的累積。你應該審慎做出職涯決定，以建立豐富的工作經歷，讓你能加以利用。
你也必須在機會來臨時，善用職涯轉捩點。這些是加速職涯軌跡的好機會，可能在你職涯的任何階段突然出現。對於胸懷大志的執行長，最常見的職涯轉捩點包括：
1 職位躍升──也就是接下一個比你過去職位高出許多的新職務。職位躍升順利成功，你就能證明，你能在全新且不確定的環境中蓬勃發展。
2 收拾殘局──你進入一個績效不佳的單位，卻成功扭轉乾坤。收拾別人的殘局，可讓大家看見你的領導能力。
3 從小規模著手，之後再擴大──在你目前的公司內開創一個新事業，創造一個額外的收益來源。能從無到有開創事業的領導者，往往會令董事會大為驚艷。
| 自我反思 |
想有效領導他人，首先必須能好好領導自己。而領導自己的關鍵，就在於定期進行自我反思。你必須不時停下來，檢視自己目前的表現，否則就不知道有什麼可以改進，而使得未來更進步。
有些人忙進忙出但成果有限，有些人卻有很高的生產力，兩者間的差異往往就在於能否自我反思。或者換句話說，自我反思能讓「活動」轉變為「生產力」。這不只讓你更明白瞭解自己身為領導者所做的各種決定，也能使各種決策更為透明，從而大幅提升你的領導威望。而你也能真正做出重大的決定，而不需要總是倉促定案，最後才顯得短視而能力不足。
為什麼自我反思有助於你成為領導者？這裡有幾項重要優點：
■ 自我反思可以作為一種警鐘：它可以提醒你別太執著，要好好把握當下、享受生命，而不是掛念著不在自己控制範圍內、未來還不一定會發生的事。這種重新連結的過程，可以讓你與身邊的一切更協調一致，因而成為更好的領導者。
■ 自我反思可讓你做出更好的決策：因為你會花時間來了解你所面對的各種結果和決定。
■ 對於眼前出現的各種機會和挑戰，你會變得更加敏銳：因為你曾經投注了時間和精力，思考你在過去面對各種情境的方法優劣，於是也就能在未來做出更佳的決定。
■ 你能創造機會，彌補各種缺失：你現在真正做的與你應該做的，兩者之間可能不盡相同，而各種一時衝動又太容易讓人誤入歧途。自我反思就能冷靜一下，讓自己想清楚現在的情勢。
| 幫助主管取得成功 |
表現一般的人期望在工作中恪盡職守，聽從命令，避免威脅領導，並且堅守自己的工作職責。
相較之下，職場明星則把工作當作一個機會，透過自己的獨立判斷，與領導者合作，積極參與幫助公司成功的工作。
在工作上與主管成功合作所需的技能包括：
1 抓住主動權，積極主動，特別是在計畫階段。鍛煉獨立思考能力，找出可能出現的潛在問題，並提醒大家注意這些值得關注的領域。
2 成為發現事實的人。不要在模糊不清的基礎上提供任何意見──收集事實，使你的案子建立在堅實的資訊基礎上，主管可能沒時間自己去尋找。
3 向能夠提供新觀點的人尋求建議。在不透露任何機密的情況下，尋求第三方的意見和觀點。他們明智的判斷可能幫助事情步入正軌，避免錯誤發生。
4 遵守公司建立的系統和協議，尤其必須尊重公司內部的指揮系統。職場明星總是希望被視為解決方案的一分子，按照正確的路線工作，而不是為了自己的目的胡亂轟炸。
5 培養有說服力的溝通技巧。使用公司內部建立，並有主管示範的語言和程序。職場明星不會試圖恐嚇他們的主管，而是以說服的方式來影響他們。
| Use Career Catapults |
Most CEOs tend to have a career path like this:
1Go broad – build up a wide breadth of skills and experiences working in different units.
2 Go deep – build leadership skills by generating superior measurable results.
3 Go high – start looking at the enterprise and participating in making decisions which impact the direction of the entire company.
Accordingly, if you're trying to make your way to a CEO role, you should never look at your career simply as a succession of jobs to land. Rather, you should be making career decisions which will build a rich portfolio of experiences you can draw on.
You also need to take advantage of career catapults as they come along. These are opportunities to accelerate your trajectory and can crop up at any stage of your career. The most common career catapults for aspiring CEOs are:
1 The big leap – where you accept a role which is a stretch from what you have previously done. Succeed at making a big step up and you prove that you can thrive in new and uncertain environments.
2 The big mess – where you go into an under-performing unit and drive a turn around. Cleaning up someone else's mess can put a spotlight on your leadership capabilities.
3 Go small in order to later go big – start something new within your existing company and build an additional revenue stream. Boards are often impressed by a leader who shows they can build something from the ground up.
| Self Reflection |
To lead other people effectively, you've first got to get good at leading yourself and the key to leading yourself is to engage in regular periodic self-reflection. Unless you pause from time to time and look at how you're doing, you won't know what you need to be doing differently in the future to get better.
Self-reflection is often the difference between being busy and being productive. Or put another way, self-reflection transforms activity into productivity. It enhances your leadership measurably because you become more aware of the explicit decisions you're making as a leader and that in turn generates greater transparency. You can make great decisions rather than being forced into quick decisions which subsequently end up being viewed as shortsighted and inferior.
How will engaging in self-reflection help you as a leader? There are several important advantages:
■ Self-reflection can serve as a wake-up call for you── it can remind you to go out and live your life more fully in the present rather than obsessing over things you can't control which may or may not happen in the future. That process of reconnecting will make you a better leader because you'll be more aligned with what's happening all around you.
■ You'll make better decisions as a result of self-reflection── because you'll take the time to understand all the outcomes and consequences of the decisions you're faced with.
■ You will become more sensitive to opportunities and challenges which arise on your watch── because you've taken the time and effort to think about how you handled situations in the past. By considering what went right and what went wrong, you become better equipped to respond more productively in the future.
■ You'll create an opportunity to pick up on any disconnects── between what you're doing and what your priorities really are It's all too easy to let momentum take you in wrong directions and selfreflection can break the grasp of momentum and make you think about what's going on.
| Help Your Managers Succeed |
Average performers expect to toe the line at work, to take orders, avoid threatening the leader and sticking to their job descriptions.
Star producers, by contrast, look at work as an opportunity to become actively involved in helping the company succeed by exercising their independent judgment to work cooperatively with their leaders.
The skills required to succeed in working cooperatively with managers in work situations are:
1 Seize the initiative and be proactive, especially during the planning stages. Exercise some independent thinking to identify potential problems that may arise, and bring those areas of concern to everyone's attention.
2 Become a fact finder. Don't provide any input based on wishy-washy foundations - gather the facts and make your case grounded on solid information which managers may not have had the time to ferret out for themselves.
3 Seek advice from people who can provide a fresh outlook. Without sharing anything confidential, seek third-party views and perspectives. Their informed judgment may help keep everything on track and avoid mistakes.
4 Follow the systems and protocols established by the company. This is especially true in respecting the chain of command within the company. Star performers always want to be viewed as part of the solution working along the proper lines rather than a loose cannon blasting away for its own purposes.
5 Develop persuasive communication skills. Use the language and processes established within the company and exemplified by its managers. Star performers don't attempt to intimidate their managers but to persuasively influence them.
推薦書單
NO.412 給主管的四個忠告
FROM VALUES TO ACTION: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership
by 小哈瑞．M．克雷默（Harry M. Kraemer Jr.）
NO.688 隔壁的CEO
The CEO Next Door: The 4 Behaviors that Transform Ordinary People into World-Class Leaders
by 伊蓮娜．L．伯特羅（Elena L. Botelho）、金．R．波威爾（Kim R. Powell）
中文版：《CEO基因》（本事出版社，2019）
NO.862 職場明星9大致勝策略
How to Be a Star at Work: Nine Breakthrough Strategies You Need To Succeed
by 羅伯．E．凱利（Robert E. Kelley）
中文版：《人人都是明星職員》（時報出版，1999）
