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I Didn't See it Coming: The Only Book You'll Ever Need to Avoid Being Blindsided in Business

by Nancy C. Widmann (Author), Elaine J. Eisenman (Author), Amy Dorn Kopelan (Author)
 

Sources by Amanda Bach

Book Description:

From the Authors

I Didn't See It Coming will change the way you think about your career.

The book brings keen observation and critical counsel to:

• Develop an exit strategy that will allow you to lead more courageously
• Define your management style so you avoid the mistakes many managers make
• Interpret red flags flying inside of every company so you can make smarter career decisions
• Effectively manage relationships with your boss, colleagues, and direct reports so you don't
  step on career landmines

Introduction

        Over the past 10 years, the business world has undergone an extraordinary transformation. Thousands of talented corporate soldiers who had successfully synergized, partnered, teamed up, downsized, restructured, realigned, cut costs, cut salaries, inflated profits, combined jobs, fired employees, and done everything to make it work suddenly found themselves out of a job. Their companies merged or self-destructed, or a consultant came in, or a new boss -- and out went the same leaders who had been yesterday’s heroes.

        It didn’t have to happen -- or at least it didn’t have to come as so much of a surprise. A lot of these executives would still be at their old jobs if they had paid closer attention to the corporate land mines in their path, to the subtle or not-so-subtle warning signs that trouble was brewing, to the risky political scenarios and the relationship perils that ultimately destroyed or derailed them. But they didn’t. And they got blindsided.

So Who Are We?

        Our backgrounds are from both inside and outside the organization. Among the three of us, we have decades of experience managing thousands of people, controlling millions of dollars, acquiring, merging, building, and selling companies. We built and dismantled organizations; managed startups and turnarounds; ran radio stations; produced television programs; created marketing and human resource departments; launched a national magazine; directed global human resources; assessed and coached senior executives; led, transitioned, and integrated acquisitions; designed and executed organizational restructurings and downsizings; served on corporate boards; and battled the competition. We have succeeded, failed, and succeeded again.

        Nancy Widmann was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2005 after a 25-year career at CBS. As president of CBS Radio for eight years, she led a team of talented executives and built her division into the most successful radio company in the industry. With responsibility for 1,200 people and over $400 million in sales, Nancy became expert at understanding how each division contributes to the financial lifeline of a corporation. Managing 21 radio stations and 6 radio networks within the CBS empire, Nancy learned first-hand that whatever your level in your organization, you’re always in effect running for office, and that your survival depends not only on delivering the bottom line but on mastering the art of corporate politics.

        Nancy’s I-didn’t-see-it-coming moment came just after Westinghouse bought CBS. She had known the company was on the block, but assumed that her long, successful run in the corner office would give her immunity and keep her at the helm of the division. After all, she had doubled the profits of CBS Radio, had a strong reputation in the industry, and was the only woman running a major division at CBS. But Westinghouse didn’t see it that way. So when she heard the words, “They don’t want you,” from Peter Lund, former president of the CBS network, she was stunned. Westinghouse replaced Nancy with a senior executive on their own team, the president of Westinghouse Radio.

        By contrast, much of Elaine Eisenman’s career has been spent as a corporate outsider. She holds a doctorate in industrial and organizational psychology, and has spent over 25 years consulting for Fortune 500 companies, advising CEOs and their executive teams about organizational effectiveness and cultural change. Elaine holds and has held seats on several public and private boards. On many occasions, she temporarily assumed key executive roles for clients undergoing significant growth or cultural transformation. In those roles, both inside and out, she has been responsible for decisions that led others to say, “I didn’t see it coming.” Still, despite all that experience, Elaine had an I-didn’t-see-it-coming event of her own.

        While consulting for American Express, Elaine was asked to serve as a senior vice president of human resources, and to assist her visionary leader, the executive vice president, in redesigning the department. Two and a half years into the reorganization, Elaine got an unexpected call one evening from the chairman of the company, informing her that her boss had died. She was charged with managing the search for a new executive VP, but realized that the new boss might not have the same mandate as the former one. Elaine took on the assignment and completed it successfully, but left the company when the search was complete.

        Amy Dorn Kopelan moved upward through the executive ranks of ABC Television for 20 years, and as senior vice president of morning television, she managed programming at Good Morning America for 9 years. Because of her ability to successfully manage teams of creative people, she was named executive vice president of direct marketing for ABC Entertainment, where she helped develop and launch Episodes, a national magazine.

        Amy’s I-didn’t-see-it-coming moment came when ABC decided to shut down Episodes. Because of her incredible track record inside the company, Amy couldn’t imagine that she wouldn’t be offered another senior position. But that didn’t happen. Instead, Dan Burke, COO of Capital Cities/ABC, candidly told Amy that, with her entrepreneurial talents, there was no suitable role for her in the company and that it was time for her to launch out on her own

        The three of us, each in her own way, emerged more knowledgeable, intuitive, savvy, and tough. Looking back, we realize that there were clear warning signs that our jobs were in jeopardy. Nancy misjudged the impact on her career of a pending sale; Elaine assumed that her solid contributions would outweigh her alliance to a former boss; and Amy didn’t realize that with a new regime came a new set of mandates. We either hadn’t seen the signs at all or completely ignored them. In the years since getting blindsided, each of us has had the opportunity to work with dozens of executives, almost all of whom had I-didn’t-see-it-coming moments at one time or another.

        What we’ve learned is that in business, survival is rarely about performance, almost everyone at the top levels of the organization is talented. Instead, it’s about learning how to spot dangers before they arise and how to wage a campaign based on political savvy and smart strategy.

How This Book Is Different

        This book is intended for all executives, professional, and managers -- male or female -- who are career-established and want to control and direct their success, to climb and survive in the new corporate America. While many other books target the same audience, our experiences in the trenches give us the perspective to talk about corporate survival from a vantage point that’s usually overlooked. Other books lay out a recipe for success either based on the author's specific journey to the top or viewed through the lens of a theoretical business environment. ButI Didn't See It Coming is a very different kind of book.

        For one thing, we know first-hand how difficult it is to be confronted with the unexpected or to be caught off guard. And we are acutely aware of what it feels like to lose, even for a brief time, power or composure.

        Second, I Didn't See It Coming is squarely focused on how to avoid being blindsided by changes of any kind within your organization. To achieve that goal we’ve taken our experience and hard-earned perspectives, coupled them with those of clients, colleagues, friends, and others whom we interviewed, and placed these observations and learnings into an organizational context. No other career book provides this kind of critical and experiential lens.

        But most importantly, these stories are far more than simple cautionary tales. Instead, they provide a framework for thinking and acting that we wish we had had during tough times in our own careers. When Elaine conducts assessment interviews with clients, as they review their past challenges, she always asks, “With the gift of hindsight, what would you have done differently?” I Didn't See It Coming is our gift of hindsight to you. Over the course of the rest of this book, we:

• Show you how to determine where the true power lies within your organization.
• Teach you to spot the land mines that emerge during corporate culture change.
• Give you the most effective strategies to neutralize potential danger.
• Help you steer a safe and profitable course over the risky corporate terrain of shifting alliances, backstabbing peers, and newcomer CEOs.
• Tell you what to watch out for, when to duck, when to bail, with whom to align, and even when and how to side step or even topple the boss.
• Help you develop the critical insights, effective tools, and instincts necessary to read any room, control your own career destiny, and outsmart the competition at every turn of the road.

Managing Minefields

        Throughout this book we use the metaphor of a minefield to describe your organization. Sound harsh? We don’t think so. We have observed, first-hand, how difficult it can be to maneuver without setting off hidden political land mines. Having a clear and safe path is critical to a sustainable career.

        Here’s a fascinating story: A Danish company, Areasa Biodetection, has been using genetic engineering to develop a land mine–detecting flower. This normally green plant will bloom red when its roots make contact with nitrogen dioxide, which degrading hidden land mines leak into the soil. These small flowers are nature's red flags, identifying imminent danger. Until some smart bioengineers develop a corporate land mine–detecting flower, this book will play that role, helping you see the red flags, avoid the hidden dangers and find safe passage.

        The key to staying clear of the land mines is to master your relationships with the four types of critical players in organizational life: your employees, your peers, your boss, and senior staff. In our view, no matter where you sit in the organization, these four groups of people have the ultimate influence on your survival and success.

        Before discussing the players, we start the book with something that may seem counterintuitive: creating an exit strategy, a strategic plan that lays out what you’re going to do, where you’re going to go, and how you’re going to get there if your job starts going south. Think of it as a corporate prenup agreement. An exit strategy prepares you to make your next move or to walk out the door. With a well-developed exit strategy, you can lead, innovate, and challenge the status quo. A strong strategy positions you to deal boldly and securely with bosses, peers, employees, and senior staff. Putting yourself in charge of the endgame, you’ll be able to make smarter decisions about managing your career and gain the confidence you need to move up the ladder.

Here are the some of the insights and counsel we bring you in the ensuing chapters:

• In Chapters 2 and 3, we talk about taking the reins, developing your leadership style, maintaining perspective, and evaluating your subordinates. We also share with you a number of critical observations relating to assessing talent, hiring, balancing relationships, and matching cultures.
   
• We devote Chapter 4 to a discussion of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” politics, putting together a band of brothers or sisters who can give you insights, warnings, and feedback that will help you advance your career.
   
• In Chapter 5, we explain the dangers inherent in working on teams. But since it’s almost impossible to avoid being on a team, we give you the tools you need to gain visibility, get credit, and psyche out the team dynamic.
   
• Chapter 6 is devoted to new bosses. We show you how to recognize when your current boss is on his way out as well as strategies to navigate through the chaos that reigns after the old boss has packed his bags and the new one starts unpacking. Everyone, regardless of their place on the food chain, has a boss.
   
• In Chapter 7, we share with you how to manage yours by making her look good, and how to be ever so careful not to outshine her. We also discuss the need to protect her back, and the dangers of being too closely allied with a boss.
   
• In Chapter 8, we change our focus to the world of senior staff., the folks who have no profit-and-loss responsibilities but who wield a tremendous amount of power. We show you how these hidden influents, with a direct line to the CEO, can support or impede your climb to the top. As an added bonus, we help you deal with consultants so that you can leverage them to your own benefit.
   
• Chapter 9 is a candid and eye-opening discussion of how to identify sea change inside your organization and how to recognize when your career may be coming to a crashing halt. We provide a no-fault game plan for effectively handling the day of reckoning and maintaining power and composure through the process. Lastly, we articulate our four laws for preventing an I-didn’t-see-it-coming moment.

Can You See It Coming?

        When you look at the big picture, it’s not hard to understand why so many wise and experienced executives never see it coming -- and why so many don’t have an exit strategy. Reading signals and connecting dots on the business landscape can be confusing. What’s more, no one really wants to consider that his or her career or position could be in jeopardy. So we often block out, ignore, or misinterpret what we’d rather not see at all. Or we observe the signs, but subconsciously we don’t let them register.

        As we see it, the problem here has to do with two significant needs: personal identity and social predictability. Despite warnings from psychologists and career coaches, most executives tie their identity to their job. They are what they do. The lines blur; they become the job. At cocktail parties, no one says “I work at being a marketing executive.” They say, “I am a marketing executive.” When that identity is threatened -- when the "who I am" might be at risk -- it’s easy to ignore the warning signals, particularly when they hint that you might lose position or power. Self-protection becomes the order of the day, instead of a savvy assessment of what is happening around you.

        We all crave predictability. We need to know where we’re going on Monday morning. If we’re heading into the office, we have a pretty good idea of what our colleagues will want to discuss, what our assistants will ask us, and what the boss will be looking for. We all rely on consistent patterns and find it hard to give them up. Even the most powerful executive craves and depends on a certain predictability and normalcy that gives structure to his life and creates a familiar social network.

        When that predictability and social network are threatened, being objective and insightful in the face of danger becomes difficult, if not impossible. That’s exactly when we’re most likely to get blindsided. Since people have intense needs and a great deal invested in their personal success, job satisfaction, and career goals, they can’t possibly accept that this could all come to a precipitous end.

        Our goal in this book is not to place you in a constant state of anxiety and paranoia, but rather to give you the tools you need to step up, charge forward, and reach the top without getting blindsided. Learning to see those red flags will guide and inform every decision you make. It will also give you the power to be a confident and creative leader.

Let’s get started!

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