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An executive coach’s
I n my life I’ve experienced tremendous success across di-
verse ventures and industries, but I’ve also had a boatload
of professional tip-overs, economic mishaps, managerial
disasters, and creative flops.
I’ve backed products that
left my bank account empty
early lesson and my garage full of unsold
inventory. I’ve started music
From Coach Yourself to Win by Howard M. Guttman. Copy- companies that were off-tune
right 2011 by Guttman Development Strategies Inc. Published and bought the Las Vegas
by McGraw-Hill (www.mh- Thunder, a pro hockey team
professional.com). that then went on to a five-
year profit-losing streak with
over investors, or land a job, you have to deliver a clarion call changers behind their backs. It’s at the 20th that things get
that will get your listeners’ attention, emotionalize your goal as interesting, because then it’s the entrepreneurs who shine.
theirs, and move them to act in your favor. You have to reach Someone who’s figured out how to turn dust into gold, created
their hearts as well as their minds — and this is just what story some gotta-have business application or bioengineered some
telling does! drug or created a business process that transforms retail …”
What if purposeful story telling was the game-changer I’d “And so it’s their turn for the spotlight?” I ask.
been looking for all along? “You would think. But lots of people who still work for big
companies or the government can’t get their arms around
Peter Guber is the former chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures and entrepreneurs. They got rich, too rich, so many people just
currently heads the Mandalay Entertainment Group (www.telltowin. assume they were lucky or had some monopoly or somehow
com). stole the money from working stiffs who bought their stuff.”
“Jealousy?”
“Sure, people are jealous. But they’re also programmed to
suspect anyone who had done well from taking too big a piece
A rule of thumb of the pie. Like the pie was taken out of their mouths. They
don’t realize that these guys made the pie bigger. It’s those suc-
for college reunions cessful entrepreneurs who created wealth for everyone else in
the room. Not the lawyers, not the doctors, not the finance guys,
From Eat People by Andy Kessler. Copyright 2011 by the author. but the creators. Yet they end up getting grief. Go figure.”
Published by Portfolio/Penguin (www.us.penguingroup.com).
Andy Kessler is a former hedge fund manager who co-founded
‘S
o I’m headed back for Velocity Capital Management (www.andykessler.com).
my college reunion,”
I said to my friend
George Gilder.
“ Yo u’r e w a s t i n g y o u r You must cultivate
time.”
“Why?” the ‘Superkeeper’
“I have a rule of thumb for
reunions.” From The Talent Management Handbook (Second Edition),
“What’s that?” Edited by Lance A. Berger and Dorothy R. Berger. Copyright
“At the fifth college re- 2011 by McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Published by McGraw-
union, it’s the lawyers who Hill (www.mhprofessional.com).
are kings. They’re out of
law school a few years with
jobs at New York law firms.
They’re driving brand-new foreign cars and wearing custom
suits while everyone else is still struggling to figure out what
they’re going to do.”
A talent strategy
makes explicit the
type of investments
an organization makes today
in the people whom it be-
“Go on.” lieves will best help it achieve
“At the 10-year, everyone ignores the lawyers; they just competitive excellence in the
look tired and they’re usually already divorced. It’s the future. A talent management
doctors’ reunion. They’ve done their med school and intern- strategy views a workforce
ships and fellowships, maybe even specialized. They have a as a portfolio of human re-
thriving practice at some prestigious hospital or research cen- source assets that are differ-
ter. They tell fascinating stories about saving lives and going to entiated based on an assess-
Africa to vaccinate poor children. It’s their turn to shine.” ment of each person’s current
“Even though they all eventually end up hating it?” and potential contribution to
“Yeah, that’s at the next few reunions, if they bother coming. organization success. The talent strategies of most high-per-
They’re overworked and their compensation constantly goes forming organizations contain the following three directives:
down and they’re probably taking a few too many self-pre- 1) Cultivate the Superkeeper, 2) Retain key position back-
scribed medications and …” ups, and 3) Appropriately allocate training, rewards, educa-
“So then who?” tion, assignments, and development.
“Well, maybe around the 15th it’s the financiers, the Wall The “Cultivate the Superkeeper” directive involves the
Street types. But no one likes them. They call them money identification, selection, development, and retention of Su-
perkeepers. Superkeepers are a very small group of individuals corporations, but has far less relevance to controlled compa-
(about 3% of an organization) who have demonstrated supe- nies, founder firms, most family firms, and many recent IPOs.
rior accomplishments, have inspired others to attain superior The most conclusive studies have sidestepped the full impact
accomplishments, and embody the creed, core competencies, of this problem by focusing on just one aspect of governance
and values of their organization. Their loss or absence severely at a time, such as takeover defenses or compensation.
inhibits organizational growth because of their disproportion- The main point is that good governance is not additive but
ately powerful impact on current and future organization essential.
performance. Bill Gates once said, “Take our 20 best people
away from us and I can tell you that Microsoft would be an Robert A.G. Monks is a pioneering institutional shareholder activist.
unimportant company.” He founded Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., and has authored
or coauthored a number of books in the governance field (www.
Lance A. Berger is managing partner and Dorothy R. Berger is a ragm.com). Alexandra Reed Lajoux is chief knowledge officer of
partner of Lance A. Berger & Associates Ltd., a firm specializing in the National Association of Corporate Directors and a past editor of
talent management, compensation, and change management. They Directors & Boards.
co-wrote and co-edited the first edition of The Talent Management
Handbook in 2003.
An acute problem
On the ‘value add’ for senior executives
of good governance From The Leadership Pipeline by Ram Charan, Steve Drotter,
and Jim Noel. Copyright 2011 by John Wiley & Sons Inc. Pub-
From Corporate Valuation for Portfolio Investment by Rob- lished by Jossey-Bass, a Wiley imprint (www.josseybass.com).
ert A.G. Monks and Alexandra Reed Lajoux. Copyright 2011
by the authors. Published
by Bloomberg Press, a Wiley
imprint (www.wiley.com/go/
bloombergpress).
F ailure to seek or listen to feedback is an especially
acute problem for senior executives. It’s not that they’re
averse to certain types of feedback; they’re always ask-
ing for feedback on new programs and products. What they
don’t actively seek — or what they turn a deaf ear to — is