We often ask, or are asked, to "lead more". But what does that exactly mean?
Especially in the context of asking for a promotion, and corporate life generally, you may find "lead more" to be vague.
Below is a simple model Masayo Nobe and I developed to help break it down, especially for more junior colleagues. (The first iteration was on the back of a napkin at an Italian restaurant in Manhattan Beach -- our first real date since baby Issa!)
Reading from the bottom up:
- We assumed that a core skill of leadership is the ability to execute what is asked of you.
- At the base level, you should be able to execute that task flawlessly (i.e., find and fix typos before you get the doc signed).
- Next level up, you should execute and conduct some basic due diligence (i.e., Are there other docs that need to be signed too?)
- Next level up, you should execute and catch red flags (i.e., I was asked to get her signature, but she has no authority to sign!)
- Next level up, you should execute and catch yellow flags (i.e., She has authority to sign now, but I know she's leaving the company in 2 weeks!)
- Next level up, you should execute but speak up if you disagree with an aspect of the request (i.e., You asked me to do X, but I think we need to do X minus Y because blah blah).
- Next level up, you are not even asked to execute: you find existing gaps to fix, proactively (i.e., You didn't ask me to do X, but X is a pain point for our company, so here's my plan to fix it).
- Next level up, you don't just fix existing gaps: you look around corners and anticipate / avoid / address future potential issues. YOU CREATE VALUE OUT OF NOTHING.
As you move up the ladder, you must build skills like cross-functional collaboration, team-building, and management in parallel.
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