Do Business Well

If you have followed Laurence A. Tisch’s career at CBS, you’ve seen a good demonstration of how serving as an acting or interim manager can result in an official promotion. After five months as the acting CEO, Tisch was formally appointed as both CEO and president.

As you’re probably aware, this was really quite an exceptional situation. Tisch’s performance clearly satisfied the directors; both positions were open; and Tisch also happened to be co-CEO and chairman of the board (and a major shareholder) of the Loews Corporation, a major CBS stockholder.

In contrast, the circumstances under which you might be asked to serve as an acting manager may not be quite as favorable. They seldom are. Continue Reading »

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A study of 100 plateaued managers and 100 upwardly mobile managers revealed a surprising similarity: The two groups did not differ significantly in terms of satisfaction with their professional and personal lives. Most rated their satisfaction at four or five on a five-point scale.

“These findings run counter to stereotypical attitudes toward career plateaus,” says Janet Near, professor of management at Indiana University (Bloomington), who conducted the study. “There has traditionally been a stigma attached to staying put.” Since there are more strivers than top positions, it’s inevitable that most careers will level out somewhere short of the executive suite. Interestingly, the majority of executives are standing still, often due to factors unrelated to performance: a boss who won’t budge; a recent acquisition or merger that creates duplicate jobs; or even “voluntary plateauing.” Continue Reading »

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Ever wonder why an executive who makes a million-dollar mistake can get off with a reprimand, while another who does an expert job is let go? Maybe performance is not the determining factor when cutbacks have to be made. This is what a number of executives are discovering, and it’s a bewildering lesson.

“Part of our job is to find out how a person ended up in our offices,” says Dr. Adela Oliver, president of Oliver Human Resource Consultants, Inc., a New York-based executive out-placement and organization development firm. “It’s very difficult for some people to understand that even if their performance is exemplary, they are sometimes more vulnerable than individuals who aren’t quite as good at what they do— but who understand the unspoken rules of the game.” Continue Reading »

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