When you look at the numbers involved in executive careers, the message you should take away is not that you can't do it if you want to. You can. The message to understand is this: If you take this as a measure of your merit, you don't fully understand the numbers.
Obviously there are a thousand CEOs in the Fortune 1000. And there are only other 15,000 or so companies that have listed securities, which indicate a public company in any practical sense of the word. Let's presume the top 30 jobs in any Fortune 1000 company constitute "executive" management. That's generous. Then for the 15,000 other companies, we'll call at most the top five jobs "executive" management. The sum of those two gives you only slightly over 100,000 "top" management jobs in this country. There are 75-100 million adults in the age range that would, at least theoretically, qualify them for management positions. So we are talking about a profession that one-tenth of one percent of the population could pursue and expect to reach the top of. There are obviously many more people who are, in fact, in management jobs, and doing useful things. But if you define success only if you get to one of those top jobs, you play a game with some long odds against you.
Understanding the Odds and the Timing Issues
Another way of understanding the role of randomness in executive careers is to imagine all the things that must occur simultaneously for you to start the process of capturing an opportunity outside your own company.
The following events have to happen simultaneously:
- You have to be looking for another opportunity.
- . You have to have the elements of a profile that will attract a search firm.
- Another company has to need someone with your profile and that company has to conclude there are no internal candidates.
- That company has to decide to put that position out for executive search.
- They have to pick a search firm that is one of the few that has some likelihood of coming across you.
- The search firm has to find you and decide that you are one of the ten or fifteen people who they should profile to the employer.
- You have to be one of the four to six people that the search firm presents as a semifinalist.
- You have to beat out the other three to five candidates whom the company interviews directly.
A Watched Pot Never Boils
So if the odds are so low and the randomness so high, what do you do? Isn't that a formula for frustration? The best advice is to do what great athletes do. Michael Jordan says that he plays his best game when he "lets the game come to him." In other words, keep doing things you know how to do well and assume that they will work, as opposed to pressing for a specific outcome. Great golfers say the same thing. Don't worry about your score and the competition, but "get into the moment" and "feel" your swing and enjoy the flight of each ball. Think about each shot and don't get ahead of yourself.
Also, study what a good fisherman knows. That is, keep fishing where you know there is good fishing and ultimately the fish will bite. On a particular day there might not be any fish. But don't start jumping around. Stay with the high odds. For any one fish, or for any one executive job, your odds may be a fraction of a percent. But over a reasonable period, the odds are that a few of them are going to land at your doorstep.
Another piece of advice, especially if you are feeling it is time to move, is to keep your passion level high. If you have no passion for your current job, then get into a volunteer activity or civic group. Do something that energizes you, and makes you feel like you are doing something worthwhile. You'll meet a different set of contacts and feel like you are not just biding your time. In fact, broadening your participation in these kinds of indirect ventures and non-job activities will generate more opportunity than if you go out and press hard.
Finally, there is the role of "positive intent." You understand the rules; you understand the profile. Now, if it is really that important to you, you have to commit yourself. While Scott Adams, the cartoonist and author of Dilbert, was still working in a corporate job and trying to build a career as a cartoonist, he would write down ten times every day, "I will be the greatest cartoonist in the world." All studies of successful people include a reference to this deliberate intent. Write your ambition down every day. Update "to-do" lists weekly that include doing at least one thing to enhance each of the four or five key parts of your executive profile or your network. Don't daydream, but visualize with intent and commitment.
You Need Help to Measure Your Own Height
The other component of making things happen is to get an honest read on why things are not coming your way. Or assess why the kind of things coming your way don't fit you or your goals.
These are two separate issues. There may be opportunities where the fit is bad. (The smart executive doesn't take those things just because they seem somewhat better. She knows that there is a particular kind of job in a particular kind of environment that she will enjoy and at which she will do well.) But there may be situations where it is the right kind of job, the fit looks good and either you're not being offered the opportunity to be a candidate or you're not making it past the first round. Trying to understand how the outside world sees your profile and skills is a very difficult thing to do. Your friends and colleagues can't be a practical or useful source of constructive input. Asking colleagues has its risks; friends will give you sugarcoated versions out of consideration for your feelings.
Search firms are not in business to give you feedback and are not likely to want to judge or discourage someone. While there may be the exceptional partner with whom you have the kind of relationship that allows you to get candid feedback, consider actually buying some time from one of the outplacement firms even when you don't need outplacement. This can be a practical way of getting an "outside-in" look. The firm can help you do an inventory of skills and a catalog of interests. It may be that your interests are, in fact, in an area different from your preconception of what you think you "ought" to pursue. The firm can also look at your resume and tell you how it will be perceived from the outside. They can tell you where, if you were in an outplacement mode, you should target the job search, and the kind of jobs for which you would be seen as eligible. This feedback can be useful in calibrating your expectations.
Again, like networking, this kind of activity is best done when there is no urgency or pressure. However, surprisingly few people get an independent, third-party opinion on their career.
