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Date Submitted: 10/27/2015 09:45 AM
INFLUENCE
Becoming the Boss
by Linda A. Hill
FROM THE JANUARY 2007 ISSUE
E
ven for the most gifted individuals, the process of becoming a leader is an arduous,
albeit rewarding, journey of continuous learning and self-development. The initial
test along the path is so fundamental that we often overlook it: becoming a boss for
the first time. That’s a shame, because the trials involved in this rite of passage have serious
consequences for both the individual and the organization.
Executives are shaped irrevocably by their first management positions. Decades later, they
recall those first months as transformational experiences that forged their leadership
philosophies and styles in ways that may continue to haunt and hobble them throughout
their careers. Organizations suffer considerable human and financial costs when a person who
has been promoted because of strong individual performance and qualifications fails to adjust
successfully to management responsibilities.
The failures aren’t surprising, given the difficulty of the transition. Ask any new manager
about the early days of being a boss—indeed, ask any senior executive to recall how he or she
felt as a new manager. If you get an honest answer, you’ll hear a tale of disorientation and, for
some, overwhelming confusion. The new role didn’t feel anything like it was supposed to. It
felt too big for any one person to handle. And whatever its scope, it sure didn’t seem to have
anything to do with leadership.
In the words of one new branch manager at a securities firm: “Do you know how hard it is to
be the boss when you are so out of control? It’s hard to verbalize. It’s the feeling you get when
you have a child. On day X minus 1, you still don’t have a child. On day X, all of a sudden
you’re a mother or a father and you’re supposed to know everything there is to know about
taking care of a kid.”
Given the significance and difficulty of this first leadership test, it’s...