Week 6: Changes in Altitude; Changes in Attitude

August 20th, 2007 Z Man

My professional life changed this week as my manager left the company for another opportunity closer to home, and I was asked to by the divisional CEO & HR to be the acting general manager of this Global P&L.  The additional responsibility created challenges in maintaining the level of consistency achieved in previous weeks, but by weeks end, my administrator and I were able to effectively combine the schedules and deliverables for both roles including the time blocks for my game elements.   For the week, I achieved 63 out of 79 points (80%).  There were no significant insights relative to points missed, except the swirl of expanded responsibilities and commitments resulted in weekly items pushing too late into the week for me to recover.
 
Being able to act in this capacity is a realization of a goal whose journey began seven years ago when I left a highly lucrative selling career with the goal of becoming a P&L leader in one of Americas most admired companies.  During my tenure, I have held five roles of increasing responsibility and had much success and tremendous development experiences.  Here I sit on the short-list of candidates being considered for my first P&L, and my reaction to this is a testament to how much I have grown.  In the past, I would have experienced a variety of emotions around desire and pushing to make the decision come out in my favor.  My wife asked me this week, did you tell them you want it, did you push for it, how are you going to approach getting selected.  All of these important questions in my old world, but I had to laugh at how detached I am from whether I get the role or not.  Make no mistake, I have my preference, but the attachment and desire are not there because I am happy where I am, and I am happy whatever is decided.  What a great place to be.  My life is in flow.
 
Two other areas I have noticed this week.  One, it has been a wonderful week for me in terms of acknowledgement from professional colleagues, peers, friends, my leadership team and their field teams.  I have read and heard many kind words, well wishes, and comments around their desires that I get the role, yet I have been able to experience the sentiments without getting caught up in the labels or buying into that these words indicate any “specialness” about me.  I approach the challenges of my current role from the servant mindset of authentic leadership, and the comments and reactions are not a response to who “I” am, but people’s perceptions of me.  Understanding this separation has been powerful.
 
Finally, I typically feel anxiety before an important talk, which I had to give this week on short notice at an all-employee meeting in our headquarters for the announcement.  To my surprise, my new awareness served me there as well.  No anxiety, no need to be perfect, and nothing to prove.  Just me talking about the employees of this great company and the path we are on as we compete in a challenging business cycle.  How liberating!
 
Much work to do, but I am enjoying the journey.

Entry Filed under: Game 36