“Congratulations!”
That's what you'll hear from your partner and the rest of your family, your former colleagues, the headhunter, and your future co-board members. “Congratulations on your new position on de Bestuurskamer” Logical, they add, you're cut out for the job. You felt that too. It's not for nothing that they came to you. Given your extensive experience, your qualities, your results.
And yet, the actual only get acquainted with your new position when the bouquets have blossomed and removed and even the last pieces of cake have miraculously disappeared from your new employer's fridge. When I explain to people exactly what de Bestuurskamer does, I'm talking about that wonderful, important, educational, sometimes frustrating and often cathartic period. About that time of business and personal growth. And about the added value of having a critical “friend in the boardroom” in those first months and years.
I know that added value. As CEO of various companies, I invariably only found out exactly what my job entailed after my formal appointment. What were the problems in the road, what specific skills I should use to make my mission successful. Without a business friend during the crucial first phase of a new leadership role, I would not have been able to discover such things; that became one of the most valuable lessons of my career.
When I started as CEO of the Bilderberg Group, I had extensive experience with internationally operating listed companies. That little pig was me for a while was a thought in the back of my head. Even though I was unfamiliar with the hospitality industry and my new employer was not a multinational but a world-famous brand in the Netherlands with over 100 years of history.
I had to deal with what is called “success delusion” in management language. The rather proud idea that, as a successful leader, you can do anything. (If you want to read more about that persistent misunderstanding, I recommend Marshall Goldsmith's book, What Got You Here Won't Get You There.)
Well, My “boardroom friend” appeared in the person of a somewhat older German industry expert, who was recommended to me as a “conscience”. I picked him up from Schiphol for a tour of the hotels — first to Rotterdam. When we drove through a post-war part of that city, he scoffed: “Who did the urban planning here? What an ugliness.” I answered dryly: “It may have something to do with the May days of 1940.” Long story short: that day he said very little else. In the meantime, I thought: my point was right, but how does this collaboration work out?
That night we had dinner and he talked about his father he had never known — fought and died young on the Eastern Front. About his mother who had worked half her life as a cleaner to pay for his studies. The war has no winners, only losers, we could agree on that. There was understanding, at a very deep level. I write this with emphasis because I've appreciated his advice ever since. A matter of deep trust and respect, over and over again.
Based on that trust, this man gave me the space to link my skills to my task, not only to focus on financial incentives, but especially to look at softer values such as manners, informal decision structures and “hidden assets”. If I had to, I could go to him. And I've used that opportunity more than once.
When I present myself as an interlocutor for starting directors, I think of this man's invaluable value for my development in an ultimately responsible role. Such added value becomes even more concrete when you consider that forty percent of top executives fail within three years, according to long-term research by McKinsey. Why? Not because new CEOs don't understand what — ultimately — should happen. But because they are failing to develop an action plan that takes into account all success and failure factors within their specific, new setting.
A good record makes a difference, certainly, but it is certainly insufficient to succeed.
My conviction is that the business “honeymoon”, or the famous “first 100 days”, are not enough for new leaders to make a significant impact. It is important to create the conditions to achieve sustainable results. A lot of issues unfold along the way — and this usually involves the essential problems.
Onboarding isn't about discovering your talents — you probably already know them. It's about being able to successfully apply those talents (and your experience, and your expertise) to your new work environment.
And to address and tackle your vulnerabilities:
- Loneliness at the top. (Because who tells the success trainer that he should switch anyway?)
- The fear of a possible blemish on your reputation.
- The importance — and the alleged problems — of modesty. - Curbing any rapid scoring drive in the short term.
- The need to look comprehensively and broadly and only then decide. (“First take stock”, the Americans call it, take stock first.)
We also review the essential personal questions, such as
- When do you consider yourself successful as a new top director?
- What is the actual briefing?
- What did you learn from your own mistakes, your own failures before?
- Why are you taking on this challenge — apart from material benefits?
- What sources can you draw from, within your new environment?
- What does your team look like? How does it work? Where are the holes?
- Who are the 'derailers' and what are their problems?
- How do decisions come about in practice?
There is no magic template where these kinds of questions lead to a standard answer or approach. Happy. Because you are different from the rest. That's why you're sitting in this place.
So congratulations, also on behalf of de Bestuurskamer: you can start. With the knowledge that guidance from someone who is not alone with the issues within the boardroom knows but also feels, significantly increases the chance that you will also be able to congratulate yourself over time.
