From Publishers Weekly
Aside from some perfunctory tips on job searching, resume writing and interviewing, the authors, both consultants with the head-hunting firm Spencer Stuart, approach careers as problems in psychology and group dynamics. They urge mid-career executives with suppressed feelings of anxiety and helplessness to view a career as a free-form project of self-actualization that should fit with their personalities and inspire passion. More pragmatically, career building is also an exercise in image-management that should convey potential and experience to employers and their head-hunting consultants. This partly involves canny career moves allowing talent to shine. But climbing the ladder also requires consummate office politics-manipulating perceptions, networking with the powerful, strategic quid pro quos, gaining power by "masquerading as the leader"-all accomplished without stepping on toes, stifling subordinates or "sucking up." The authors convey these lessons in a sometimes turgid mixture of opaque managementese ("successful executives... literally achieve positive impact at an accelerating rate"), squishy survey data ("extraordinary executives... leverage both their strengths and their passions more than six times as often as average employees") and case studies in which executives move from industry to industry in a meteoric, triumphal procession of nebulous jobs in consulting, marketing and finance. The blend of motivational therapeutics and softly Machiavellian tactics may help some executives get out of their rut, but the generic, almost contentless corporate work experiences on display seem far from extraordinary.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Certainly, Citrin's latest book (after Lessons from the Top, 1999, and Zoom! 2002, with Tomas J. Neff) is filled with accolades for executive recruiter Spencer Stuart, his employer. Overlook that, for a while; instead, focus on the enormous potential his company has to analyze a vast array of executive talent and uncover patterns of achievement. That is exactly what Citrin, with coauthor Smith, does. Five differentiating principles--the contrast between a merely successful professional and the extraordinary executive--are not only described but also demonstrated in real C-level individuals in U.S. corporations. For the first principle, "understand the value of you," winning bicyclist Lance Armstrong is profiled, as is Yahoo!'s COO Dan Rosensweig. The benevolent leader, an executive focused on the success of others, is best exemplified in Herb Kelleher, former CEO of Southwest Airlines, among other singled-out individuals. Lists go on and on; what's more important is the application of these principles to the organization, which creates extraordinary people. Finally, the recognition and proof that talent matters to business! Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
About the Author
JAMES M. CITRIN, a prominent CEO and board director recruiter, leads Spencer Stuart’s Global Technology, Communications, and Media practice and is a member of the firm’s worldwide board of directors. He is the author of Zoom: How 12 Exceptional Companies Are Navigating the Road to the Next Economy and coauthor of Lessons from the Top: The 50 Most Successful Business Leaders in America—and What You Can Learn from Them.
RICHARD A. SMITH is a respected thought leader and recruiter of CEOs for both public and private corporations and a core member of Spencer Stuart’s Strategic Leadership practice. He has authored numerous articles on leadership and talent resource management, including the widely cited white paper, Tier One Talent: Investment Strategies for Human Capital.
RICHARD A. SMITH is a respected thought leader and recruiter of CEOs for both public and private corporations and a core member of Spencer Stuart’s Strategic Leadership practice. He has authored numerous articles on leadership and talent resource management, including the widely cited white paper, Tier One Talent: Investment Strategies for Human Capital.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Pattern 1
Understand the Value of You
I conceive that the great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by false estimates they have made of the value of things. —Benjamin Franklin
Value is not intrinsic; it is not in things. It is within us; it is the way in which man reacts to the conditions of his environment. —Ludwig von Mises
The Power of Career Knowledge
Before he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, Lance Armstrong thought he had all that he needed to be a champion cyclist. He had oversized lung capacity, explosive power in his legs, and fiery ambition stoked by a tormented youth. So when he began racing as a professional on the European circuit, he expected to win and quickly emerge as the best rider in the world.
But he soon learned about the peleton, a swarm of cyclists that makes up the mass of road racers. To the spectator, it seems like a colorful blur of riders storming by. But inside the pack, there are subtle forces at play and a culture that governs how things really work. One rider helps another one day and gets the favor returned the next. The deans of the sport, who have worked their way up the hierarchy by paying their dues, demand—and are accorded—respect and recognition. For one without an understanding of how the game is really played, the peleton could prevent you from winning by blocking you out, slowing you down, even running you off the road. Why? Because in racing, the peleton is often more powerful than the individual.
In his book It's Not About the Bike, Armstrong said, "As an American, I was a gate-crasher in a revered and time-honored sport, and I had little concept of its rules, written and unwritten, or its etiquette." Since he raced with no deference to the elders and never backed down, he was making enemies. It wasn't until after his miraculous recovery and the maturation and self-awareness that went along with it that Armstrong truly understood all the elements required to win in cycling. It was not all about bulldozing straight ahead, pushing aside everyone else. It was not about parading, mouthing off, and shoving his fists in the air after winning a stage. It was about respect, a continuous give-and-take between competing riders, an appreciation of the proud history and traditions of the sport. And, of course, it was also about ferocious competition, explosive speed, and lung-bursting endurance. When he coupled his talents and his drive with knowledge and experience, Armstrong went on to win four consecutive Tours de France and become the unassailable best rider in the world.
What's the moral of the Armstrong story for you? Careers, like other important activities in life, are governed by subtle yet pervasive dynamics that significantly influence your value in the marketplace for professional talent. Once you truly understand them, you are bound for glory. Remain ignorant of them at your own peril. Many talented professionals come unmoored from the path they set by failing to appreciate what really determines their professional value, never achieving the level of success and fulfillment attainable to them. The most successful professionals have come to understand the underlying factors that determine value in the job market, how to maximize their market value at different stages of professional life, and why some careers prosper while others peak and decline.
Does the fact that some professionals have a much better understanding of how value is created in the workforce really make a difference? You bet it does. Our survey asked this question: "Do you have a strong understanding of what drives value in the marketplace for professional talent?" When we analyzed the responses, we were stunned by the results. When professionals answered "strongly agree" to this question, they were more likely—by a factor of two to one—to have the degree of success to which the vast majority of people aspire. They are extremely satisfied with their career and compensation, passionate about their job, and optimistic about their future. In addition, those with the greatest self-reported knowledge about the dynamics of careers were 35 percent more likely to be performing at or near peak productivity levels, believe their value within the organization is growing at above average rates, and are much less likely to consider external job opportunities. For both the aspiring professional and the organizations they work for, an understanding of the drivers of professional value turns out to be a most critical asset.
What are the underlying factors that determine value in the job market? How do you maximize your market value at the different stages of your professional life? Why do some careers prosper, while others peak and then decline?
The Value of You
What are you worth? For many, the answer to this question may seem a matter of simple math. Just take your total annual compensation, add benefits, and voilà—you've got your answer. Not so fast. Placing a monetary figure on your talents may be correct for a static moment in time. However, the equation for determining your true worth over time is more nuanced than you might first imagine. In addition to the critically important characteristics about you as an individual—intelligence, interpersonal skills, leadership, and ambition—there are key macro factors at play as well. Age matters, influencing where you fit into the demographic trends of the population at large. So too does the demand for professional positions similar to yours at any given point in time. And all that volatility among companies is not necessarily a bad thing—increasing fluctuations in corporate valuations turns out to actually enhance your value in the marketplace as well. Finally, recognize that this is the age of intellectual capital. With technology-enhanced productivity improvements working their way across the economy, the value of specialized knowledge is at a premium.
These factors together constitute the foundation of the job market—or more accurately stated, the human capital market. While most workers don't understand their worth in the broader job market, our research suggests the extraordinary executive is instinctively aware of the forces that drive her value at each and every stage of her career, and single-mindedly focuses her energies and actions on maximizing that value over time. But most have gained their knowledge through trial and error, often over many years.
What we will do in the remainder of this chapter is help you understand what determines value in the marketplace and how you can influence it, thereby avoiding the difficult process of the hit-or-miss approach.
Solving the talent-worth equation is partly a matter of testing the job market waters, in much the same way that you might market-test a product to gauge consumer acceptance. But while this will give you some information, it is not the most complete measure of your true value. To do this, you will need to get beyond short-term compensation data and look at the underlying factors that determine real value in the employment market.
Specifically, you must first understand four key macro factors:
*Demographics. You need to assess where you fit in the aggregate supply and demand of professional talent.
*Market liquidity. Is your supply in demand? You need to gauge the number of professionals seeking positions versus the number of open positions seeking professionals.
*Company volatility. You need to evaluate how fluctuations in corporate valuations enhance or diminish your value in the marketplace.
*Intellectual capital. You need to consider how the financial markets value intangible assets, notably intellectual capital, relative to hard assets, or book value.
To help professionals and their companies understand where they stand in the evolving market for talent, we have developed an analytical tool that measures these four factors over time, which we call the Human Capital Market Index (HCMI). Details about the methodology and research behind the HCMI can be found at www.spencer stuart.com. But the bottom line of our research is this: Given the massive structural changes in the economy over the past thirty years, professionals as a collective whole are worth far greater today than in all but a couple of the years of the past three decades. Your individual characteristics are still essential, of course, but at a macro level, your value should be enhanced by the rise of an economy dependent on the service sector, which means that there is a much greater demand for talent and intellectual capital. (Note that the number of jobs in the manufacturing sector has fallen from 40 percent of total employment in 1950 to less than 18 percent today, while service sector employment has grown from less than 14 percent to more than 35 percent over the same time period.) Despite increased economic turmoil, the upward trend in the value of you should continue in the years to come, based on demographics, continued technology-based productivity improvements, and the ever more valuable role of knowledge in the workplace. In short, talented individuals will continue to be able to create more economic value in the years ahead, and this will in turn pull up their own value.
How is this possible at a time when many people feel less valuable than ever before? We cannot ignore that only a few years ago, with the technology bubble swelling to a bursting point, the behavior of both supply and demand became almost irrational—employers going to outrageous lengths to lure talented people, and employees abandoning loyalty and security for potential riches and fame. The most talented professionals became "rock stars," and the employers regressed to screaming teenage fans. But the stark reality of the postbubble employment market is indeed rather different. During the last few years, compensation dropped, layoffs flourished, and the pervasive calls from corporate recruiters disap...
Understand the Value of You
I conceive that the great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by false estimates they have made of the value of things. —Benjamin Franklin
Value is not intrinsic; it is not in things. It is within us; it is the way in which man reacts to the conditions of his environment. —Ludwig von Mises
The Power of Career Knowledge
Before he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, Lance Armstrong thought he had all that he needed to be a champion cyclist. He had oversized lung capacity, explosive power in his legs, and fiery ambition stoked by a tormented youth. So when he began racing as a professional on the European circuit, he expected to win and quickly emerge as the best rider in the world.
But he soon learned about the peleton, a swarm of cyclists that makes up the mass of road racers. To the spectator, it seems like a colorful blur of riders storming by. But inside the pack, there are subtle forces at play and a culture that governs how things really work. One rider helps another one day and gets the favor returned the next. The deans of the sport, who have worked their way up the hierarchy by paying their dues, demand—and are accorded—respect and recognition. For one without an understanding of how the game is really played, the peleton could prevent you from winning by blocking you out, slowing you down, even running you off the road. Why? Because in racing, the peleton is often more powerful than the individual.
In his book It's Not About the Bike, Armstrong said, "As an American, I was a gate-crasher in a revered and time-honored sport, and I had little concept of its rules, written and unwritten, or its etiquette." Since he raced with no deference to the elders and never backed down, he was making enemies. It wasn't until after his miraculous recovery and the maturation and self-awareness that went along with it that Armstrong truly understood all the elements required to win in cycling. It was not all about bulldozing straight ahead, pushing aside everyone else. It was not about parading, mouthing off, and shoving his fists in the air after winning a stage. It was about respect, a continuous give-and-take between competing riders, an appreciation of the proud history and traditions of the sport. And, of course, it was also about ferocious competition, explosive speed, and lung-bursting endurance. When he coupled his talents and his drive with knowledge and experience, Armstrong went on to win four consecutive Tours de France and become the unassailable best rider in the world.
What's the moral of the Armstrong story for you? Careers, like other important activities in life, are governed by subtle yet pervasive dynamics that significantly influence your value in the marketplace for professional talent. Once you truly understand them, you are bound for glory. Remain ignorant of them at your own peril. Many talented professionals come unmoored from the path they set by failing to appreciate what really determines their professional value, never achieving the level of success and fulfillment attainable to them. The most successful professionals have come to understand the underlying factors that determine value in the job market, how to maximize their market value at different stages of professional life, and why some careers prosper while others peak and decline.
Does the fact that some professionals have a much better understanding of how value is created in the workforce really make a difference? You bet it does. Our survey asked this question: "Do you have a strong understanding of what drives value in the marketplace for professional talent?" When we analyzed the responses, we were stunned by the results. When professionals answered "strongly agree" to this question, they were more likely—by a factor of two to one—to have the degree of success to which the vast majority of people aspire. They are extremely satisfied with their career and compensation, passionate about their job, and optimistic about their future. In addition, those with the greatest self-reported knowledge about the dynamics of careers were 35 percent more likely to be performing at or near peak productivity levels, believe their value within the organization is growing at above average rates, and are much less likely to consider external job opportunities. For both the aspiring professional and the organizations they work for, an understanding of the drivers of professional value turns out to be a most critical asset.
What are the underlying factors that determine value in the job market? How do you maximize your market value at the different stages of your professional life? Why do some careers prosper, while others peak and then decline?
The Value of You
What are you worth? For many, the answer to this question may seem a matter of simple math. Just take your total annual compensation, add benefits, and voilà—you've got your answer. Not so fast. Placing a monetary figure on your talents may be correct for a static moment in time. However, the equation for determining your true worth over time is more nuanced than you might first imagine. In addition to the critically important characteristics about you as an individual—intelligence, interpersonal skills, leadership, and ambition—there are key macro factors at play as well. Age matters, influencing where you fit into the demographic trends of the population at large. So too does the demand for professional positions similar to yours at any given point in time. And all that volatility among companies is not necessarily a bad thing—increasing fluctuations in corporate valuations turns out to actually enhance your value in the marketplace as well. Finally, recognize that this is the age of intellectual capital. With technology-enhanced productivity improvements working their way across the economy, the value of specialized knowledge is at a premium.
These factors together constitute the foundation of the job market—or more accurately stated, the human capital market. While most workers don't understand their worth in the broader job market, our research suggests the extraordinary executive is instinctively aware of the forces that drive her value at each and every stage of her career, and single-mindedly focuses her energies and actions on maximizing that value over time. But most have gained their knowledge through trial and error, often over many years.
What we will do in the remainder of this chapter is help you understand what determines value in the marketplace and how you can influence it, thereby avoiding the difficult process of the hit-or-miss approach.
Solving the talent-worth equation is partly a matter of testing the job market waters, in much the same way that you might market-test a product to gauge consumer acceptance. But while this will give you some information, it is not the most complete measure of your true value. To do this, you will need to get beyond short-term compensation data and look at the underlying factors that determine real value in the employment market.
Specifically, you must first understand four key macro factors:
*Demographics. You need to assess where you fit in the aggregate supply and demand of professional talent.
*Market liquidity. Is your supply in demand? You need to gauge the number of professionals seeking positions versus the number of open positions seeking professionals.
*Company volatility. You need to evaluate how fluctuations in corporate valuations enhance or diminish your value in the marketplace.
*Intellectual capital. You need to consider how the financial markets value intangible assets, notably intellectual capital, relative to hard assets, or book value.
To help professionals and their companies understand where they stand in the evolving market for talent, we have developed an analytical tool that measures these four factors over time, which we call the Human Capital Market Index (HCMI). Details about the methodology and research behind the HCMI can be found at www.spencer stuart.com. But the bottom line of our research is this: Given the massive structural changes in the economy over the past thirty years, professionals as a collective whole are worth far greater today than in all but a couple of the years of the past three decades. Your individual characteristics are still essential, of course, but at a macro level, your value should be enhanced by the rise of an economy dependent on the service sector, which means that there is a much greater demand for talent and intellectual capital. (Note that the number of jobs in the manufacturing sector has fallen from 40 percent of total employment in 1950 to less than 18 percent today, while service sector employment has grown from less than 14 percent to more than 35 percent over the same time period.) Despite increased economic turmoil, the upward trend in the value of you should continue in the years to come, based on demographics, continued technology-based productivity improvements, and the ever more valuable role of knowledge in the workplace. In short, talented individuals will continue to be able to create more economic value in the years ahead, and this will in turn pull up their own value.
How is this possible at a time when many people feel less valuable than ever before? We cannot ignore that only a few years ago, with the technology bubble swelling to a bursting point, the behavior of both supply and demand became almost irrational—employers going to outrageous lengths to lure talented people, and employees abandoning loyalty and security for potential riches and fame. The most talented professionals became "rock stars," and the employers regressed to screaming teenage fans. But the stark reality of the postbubble employment market is indeed rather different. During the last few years, compensation dropped, layoffs flourished, and the pervasive calls from corporate recruiters disap...
