Goldsmith’s Rule of Hierarchical Perspective
Marshall Goldsmith presents in
Mojo, a perspective that if taken to heart could free many people from the frustration they encounter when they find someone over them in a hierarchy. Sometimes we are the smartest, quickest, best person in the room and we can’t understand why we aren’t in the driver’s seat. And we let everyone know it. We get resentful and disrespectful and unwittingly erode any influence we might have had—compounding our own problem.
Whenever we begin to moan about something not going our way, we might remember Goldsmith’s prescription:
Every decision in the world is made by the person who has the power to make that decision—not the “right” person, or the “smartest” person, or the “most qualified” person, and in most cases not you. If you influence this decision maker, you will make a positive difference. If you do not influence this person, you will not make a positive difference. Make peace with this. You will have a better life! And, you will make more of a positive difference in your organization and you will be happier.
Comments
Hi Michael
Great thoughts. I've seen and heard this a lot. More than ever know that people seem to come packaged up or conversant with broader knowledge bases than before. Yesterday, everyone specialised. As a result, most of the time decisions were easy. Today, everyone has a marketing, hr, finance, IT opinion. You mind if I reproduce them on our HubCap human capital forums?
Posted by: Stuart Shaw | April 8, 2010 04:54 AM
Michael,
Thanks for your post. You're reminding us to hone our skills at influencing decision makers.
One way to influence those with power is by adopting their vision. In other words, help them take your organization where they want to take it.
Thanks for giving back to the community and for your comments on my blog.
Best to you,
Leadership Freak
Dan Rockwell
Posted by: Dan (Leadership Freak) | April 8, 2010 07:43 AM
Great post. Marshall and I talked about that on my podcast (set to release on Monday) and I loved his insistence that when you can't change it...accept it.
Posted by: david burkus | April 8, 2010 03:08 PM
"Make peace with this." Simple, but brilliant advice. How much frustration this would have saved me! This is certainly a path out of the poor-me trap of being in a middle position.
Posted by: Steven Hovater | April 8, 2010 08:54 PM