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Jim Citrin Leadership by Example

Jim Citrin, Leadership by Example

Three Principles of Career Management

by Jim Citrin

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Posted on Tuesday, April 1, 2008, 12:00AM

Which companies attract and nurture the best talent?

This is more than a theoretical question in today's increasingly mobile, knowledge-driven economy. The issue of talent has implications for you from a career-management, leadership, and, potentially, investment perspective. Let's take a look at each of these three areas in turn.

A Lasting Reputation

As you think about your career, recognize that your value in the market is inexorably linked to the reputation of your employer. Is your company a dynamic, cutting-edge, creative winner? Or is it a solid but dull middle-of-the-packer?

Chances are that these terms will be used to describe you as well. In many cases, you'll be associated with the company you work for more than the specific job you hold. Just as your college label stays with you over the course of your career, so too does the company you work for become part of your professional identity.

Working in a company with great people will plug you into valuable networks and offer the best opportunities for skill-building and professional development. Being associated with a blue-chip company brand will also enhance your career options down the road. After all, it's generally easier to move from a large, widely recognized, well-respected organization to a smaller or more speculative one.

The Traits of Success

What if you're a leader in your company? What can you do to attract the best talent that will ultimately enhance the brand of your organization? In a large-scale research effort with thousands of senior executives, a colleague and I analyzed the characteristics that the most talented professionals value in their organizations.

To sum it up in a phrase, the best leaders create a "success culture" -- one that attracts and unleashes the energy and creativity of the best talent. A success culture is one in which the organization:

• Wins in the marketplace and meets well-communicated performance expectations.

• Encourages the values of mentorship and making colleagues successful.

• Makes it easy to take appropriate risks and learn from results without an undue fear of failure.

• Provides organizational mobility and ready access to new responsibilities and opportunities.

• Provides sound feedback and coaching on self-assessment so that employees can take advantage of organizational mobility and move into roles that play to their greatest strengths and interests.

A New Accountability

There's a new dimension beyond creating a success culture that's rapidly becoming an additional requirement for attracting the best talent -- the degree to which companies are judged to be socially responsible. According to a McKinsey global survey, society's expectations for companies are rising beyond donating funds to local hospitals, schools, or cultural institutions.

Consumers and employees, among other stakeholders, are increasingly holding companies accountable for their actions in areas as wide-ranging as environmental degradation, swelling consumer debt, and working conditions in developing countries.

Talent is now evaluating employers based on the degree to which they're ethical; whether they demonstrate and communicate good values and good works; and how well they align their social strategy with their products and marketing messages.

The Stock-Talent Connection

Finally, what about the talent question from an investor's perspective? In the short run, you need only to look at the impact of new CEO appointments on a company's stock price to be reminded of how linked investment returns are to top executive talent. Over the long term, however, talent can potentially become an actionable investment strategy.

This suggests that the companies best known for developing managers and leaders outperform the broader market by a wide margin. The business press puts out many rankings of best companies to work for, most valuable brands, best-managed or most admired-companies, and so on. The names most often cited on these lists tend to be well known: General Electric, Procter & Gamble, IBM, Nokia, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, McDonald's, Caterpillar, Colgate-Palmolive, Starbucks, Nike, to name a few.

About two-thirds of these companies has outperformed the S&P 500 over the past five years. More dramatically, over a 10-year period, all but one has outperformed the S&P, and more than half have outpaced the broader market by a factor greater than tenfold.

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28 Comments

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  • Nocturnal_Insomniac - Thursday, April 3, 2008, 5:27PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 3/5

    unless of course you are in IT, then you can clearly have more smarts than anybody else in the company. But are still dumb enough to think that there is a future in what you do. God i wished i had gone into something else.

  • Love2Fly - Thursday, April 3, 2008, 4:10PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 3/5

    Sounds like The Snow Man works for Intersil. We also have dinasours producing Analog IC's. Even our PC's are over 7 years old still with 3.5 floppy drives.

  • The Snow Man - Thursday, April 3, 2008, 10:04AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 3/5

    Unfortunately, good companies go bad. I've been at the same company for 17 years and have seen it go from a great company with all the" traits of success" to a sweatshop that intentionally promotes incompetent abusive managers. It's not just my company, the entire semiconductor business has gone this way. These companies today are in a world of hurt because outsourcing is no longer cost effective and as they have proved over and over again, they are too slow to change. Get used to seeing the extinction of dinosaurs like Motorola and AMD. As this article accurately implies, the loyal engineers at these companies are destroying their careers. It's not so easy to jump ship when you have kids, are in your 40's and the dinosaur is the only employer of it's kind in your area.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 11:08PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 3/5

    I worked for a company where the VP of Production was a friend of the President of the company. The VP of Production had a high school diploma and pretty much ran the company. He wasn't anything special either. He made at least $250,000. The supervisor of the Accounts Receivable Department who also had a high school diploma made more than most of the staff accountants who had college degrees. She was a friend who gave the VP of Finance all the dirt in the company. Goes to show you it's not what you know, it's who you know...By the way, let's give a shout out to Jim who was interviewed for an article in Investor's Business Daily a few weeks ago.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 7:48PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 1/5

    This is corporate drivel. Instead of coaching seminars, Fortune 500 companies should have workshops addressing the protocol for firing worthless individuals. 95% of people that say things like "success culture" in a business setting are full of *&^% and have made a career out of bull%&*$ing other people.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 12:13PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 2/5

    I have worked in corp amer for 30 years or more 25 as a VP in several major top branded companies. I can tell you one thing, having been in the major decision making meeting,,,most of the so called "leaders" are anything but. They spend 50% of their time covering theoir butt, won't take a calculated risk or think out of the box because it might fail and affect how they are reviewed, they do not look for the best and the brightest because they are a threat to the status quo and thier own position. I am still in corp amer as a consultant ...and it is much bettter not having to put up with the politics, the idiots in charge etc. Now I give them advice, do what I am asked, and leave at a decent hour each day. The money is less, but so is the grief, pressure, stress on my life...I have found that when i talked to those in charge, the first thing they ask me when I interview is "why would you want to do this"? meanuing...you are better qualified then me, and that is a problem! I have an excellent education, graduate, post graduate, top school, history in jobs that is stable, VP in 4 fortune 100 companies for 25 years,...I have beenn successful...but do not for a minute think that will get you a position,...politics, sucking up and knowing someone are better skills and will serve you better if that is your goal in life...to get ahead at any cost.

  • HR Dir - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 12:12PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    Having recruited for over 13 years in one capacity or another, I agree with the article. All things equal, the person with the better background - ie, better known company/college/position - will be offered the position. I remember applying for my first position after college, having worked for a small consulting firm on some VERY large accounts, and having the hiring manager conducting my interview marginalize the company and my job within the company. I was insulted because my company did fantastic work! My contributions were excellent and I had references to prove it. I didn't accept that job as a result and went with another blue chip company - one that was familiar with the consulting firm's reputation and valued my experience. Honestly - best career mgt choice I could have made.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 12:00PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 1/5

    Mr Citrin is full of horse hockey

  • Don - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 11:58AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 1/5

    Citrin comes out of the Suze Orman school of showing just how little they know about serious financial matters by writing about everything else.

  • John - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 11:54AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 2/5

    If this were a sports article, the article's main points would be: 1) teams that have better players win more games, 2) teams that win more games are more fun to play for and 3) teams that win more games draw more fans.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 11:33AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 1/5

    useless

  • Ken - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 10:40AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 2/5

    Do you live to work, or work to live? Defining yourself by the company you work for inexorably ties you to the fickle whims of somebody else's agenda. That would mean that every time the stock dives, or the company moves off shore, you would take it personally. Retirement would kill you. Wouldn't it be better to define yourself by your own standards? The company is the life support for your life, not theirs. Do not set yourself up for failure.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 10:37AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 4/5

    FIRST THING YOU NEED TO LEARN after you graduate college/tech or trade school: YOU ARE THE PRODUCT. Period. You sell your skills and time for money, whether you work for someone else or work for yourself. There are a plentitude of "careers" (which is just BS spin and title by headhunters) and even more "jobs" both lousy and better, the difference is the "title" as aforementioned and the pay rate....Hard won advice: don't marry the "job" or the "career" because they can and will leave you cold and alone....remember you=the product, always, and keep that forefront in your heart and mind.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 10:36AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 4/5

    In my experience few large organizations can create a widespread "success culture". Thats because of human nature. Managers favor their golf buddies which taints the review process. Day to day crisis management leaves little time or energy for mentoring. Aggressive hard workers are sometimes seen as a threat to those above rather than an asset. And people at all levels strongly resist change. So all great ideas to work toward but don't be overly optimistic about success.

  • ShaniqaP - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 10:35AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 1/5

    Citrin could be the next "Brazen Careerist," but his writing style needs work. Nowhere near as good as Penelope Trunk. At least he seems to be getting out of his "Lifestyles of people who want to enhance their reputation by getting noticed doing charity work" rut.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 10:25AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 2/5

    Jim: You fail to mention that Executive Recruiters have more control over your career then the Organizations you have worked for (or with). As a senior level executive currently in transition (after working for a "prestigious" Organization for 20 years), I find the interactions between the so-called "big 4" Recruiting Firms and great candidates to be ridiculous!!! In fact, I still am shocked (and consider it unethical) to move your "circle" of placed candidates around to other clients when the opportunity presents itself. Many of your articles are great "stories," but are, at best, extremely limited in real world situations. Perhaps the recruiting world needs oversight and regulation similar to other professions (accountants, lawyers, brokers, etc.) as your fiduciary responsibilities to clients and candidates needs "an adjustment." One person's view!!!

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 10:14AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 2/5

    Agree with the poster from 9:03. I work for a huge company and the mantra inside is that we got that big "through no fault of our own." Although we are big we are a perennial #2 in our industry and we have an extremely high expense ratio compared to #1. There is a ton of waste, especially in middle management. They are the ones that get us way too engaged in nonsense and non-value added ventures in an effort to get promoted. The fear of failure is high in my Department because of the fact that the newly promoted Sr Manager can't get promoted to Director fast enough and we are his means to the end. The people that are the most effective are the ones that are the most comfortable in their roles, ie, Sr Mgr's who could care less if they ever got promoted again, Directors who don't care to be VP's. The ones that would stomp on their own mother to get ahead are the ones that make life a living h*** for the rest of us and there are way, way, way too many of them where I work. The only reason I'm there is because they let me work a flexible schedule so I bite the bullet and take it for now. I would strongly encourage anyone who's young to work for one of these monster companies for a few years then move on to a high position in a smaller, privately-owned company or work for yourself as a consultant or something like that. Big corporate America is no place to spend the rest of your working life.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 9:56AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 1/5

    I have worked for big corporations (Microsoft, Sun Microsystems), for a venture capital funded start-up and I worked for a small private company with two co-owners. From experience I can tell you the small start-up was the best. Best bosses, best environment, best salary. Big corporations were okay - Microsoft was okay, Sun was pathetic. Small private companies are the worst to work for – avoid these at all costs. They don’t pay well and usually owners/management SUCKS.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 9:53AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 2/5

    What a load of crap. You want the best way to build your career? Work for yourself and stop making someone else rich by working your butt off.

  • WWW.BOONCOME.COM - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 9:09AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 3/5

    Number 2 comment. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 9:03AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 3/5

    I've worked for companies that have been leaders in their industry and that where the leadership stopped. Inside the company was an environment hardly conducive for individual success. You get pidgeon-holed into one job and you are never allowed to fail. I was an accountant and I was supposed to feel fortunate I was making $36,000 per year after being at the company for over 10 years (which I guess was my fault for staying so long). I left and then they asked me to come back and denied me medical benefits and raises for three years. I had too many bosses and they all were out for number one, themselves. The irony is they were treated well by their boss yet they treated their employees like second-class citizens. I hope they enjoyed their nice raises so they could buy new homes and send their kids to the best schools. Ahh memories. Thank God those days are long gone.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 8:50AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 1/5

    I only go to work to get away from my idiot, loudmouth wife and ingrate kids. The work is boring and I am broke at the end of each month. What career?

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 8:12AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 3/5

    Having recently retired from federal government service, out of the 5 traits listed, my experience was that our agency only supported 1 of the 5 traits and was adamantly opposed to at least 2 of them.

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