It's Not About the Shoes

“It’s not about the shoes. It’s about what you do in them.” —Michael Jordan

You may think that once you’ve achieve some role or title at your company that you’ve made it. That people will listen to you, and being the boss will make things easier. But what every leader learns is that it’s not about the role or title. In a counter intuitive sucker punch, the higher up you get in an organization the less title and role matters. 

I recall some of my first meetings after I became an executive responsible for product development at a middle-sized public company. I expected that my role leading development clearly defined my responsibility, and others would defer to me for those decisions. Instead, I was surprised that everyone seemed to have an opinion about how to do development. Everyone had an opinion even about how hard things were (echoes of my least favorite quote, “How hard can that be?”). It felt like nobody wanted to give me space to do my job.

My first reaction was to talk to my boss and ask for his support to get others to let me do my job. This was not a great decision. My boss expected me to work it out. These were people he considered my peers, and I needed to sort it out and get it done. He was far less attached to clear roles and responsibilities, and much more attached to performance and results. The bottom line was that he wasn’t going to go tell someone to leave me alone. In hindsight I realize it wouldn’t set me up for success either.

My relationships with my peers was still developing. The progress was slow. I had a lot of products and many people from general managers to salespeople who had opinions about product development. Our organization was a “matrix” which seemed to mean anyone could reach out and give their opinion about anything. In this sea of relationships and influence, my role or title didn’t mean very much.

I focused on building better relationships with people that were key to the success of my products. I invested time getting to know them and doing them favors. I made it my business to learn what they liked. I started with simple things like what coffee they liked (who doesn’t take a meeting with someone bearing gifts). I worked on figuring out what they wanted (or needed) that I could provide them to be more successful.

I found some useful patterns in what value I could provide. I shared my expertise with them so they could appear smarter. I created predictability around the development process to help them keep their promises. I joined them on sales calls and supported their interactions with customers. I approached requests with the goal of “how can we make this work” rather than “why this is hard.” 

This process of building relationships didn’t always work. At least in one case someone called me manipulative because I was spending time trying to figure out how I could gain their trust. In a cynical culture I supposed that’s true; if I was trying to gain trust for some selfish or illicit purpose. I was working towards the best interest of the organization. The cynical nature of the person I was working with drove the perception that I was out for myself. Lesson learned; not everyone will give you the benefit of the doubt that you’re working for the organization and not yourself. 

In the end, leadership and being an executive isn’t about the role or title. It’s about the relationship and the results you deliver with those relationships. You’ll be judged by other executives by how effective you are at getting things done when things are messy and there isn’t a playbook.