Summary of How Managers Become Leaders

Submitted by Pratik Agarwal, Roll No. V4055, Trimester 1, Marketing.

Harald the high-potential leader with 15 years of experience at the top notch European chemical company started his career an assistant product manager in a plastics unit whereby he successfully portrayed his skills and was hence transferred to Hong Kong to help set up the units new Asian business unit. Thus, started his journey to success from the promotion of a sales manager to the marketing and sales director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, overseeing a group of 80 professionals and also promoted to vice president of marketing and sales for the polyethylene division, responsible for several lines of products, related services, and a staff of nearly 200. But, now the parent firm wanted Harald to gain cross functional knowledge to enhance his managerial skills so as to benefit from it. Intentionally, the company had assigned him to run a small but thriving business with a strong team and so did the transition for Harald took place from being a manager to a LEADER.

However, like Harald many people with high determination and commitment start to trip when they shift from leading a function to leading an enterprises king pin role. To make these transition successful executives must make the necessary changes in their attitudes and focus which is termed as the seven seismic shifts.

Firstly the managers should transcend from being a Specialist to Generalist. The managers should have sufficient knowledge about the various departments in the company, it structure and functioning as a whole so as to lead the company in diverse circumstances. Secondly, the managers should be Integrators and not Analyst alone being an integrator will help a manager to arrange, coordinate and hence provide a good mix of various resources which will help in solving the complex organisational problems. Thirdly, the managers should shift from Tactician to Strategist being a tactician serves as a source of remedy but when a manager is a strategist it helps him / her to perceive important patterns in complex environments, and anticipate and influence the reactions of key external players. Fourthly, the managers should be Bricklayer to Architect being a brick layer helps a budding manager but, when a manager starts integrating the various functions, operations and practices of an organisation effectively and efficiently the manager achieves organisational fit practices and is perceived as a leader. Fifthly, Problem Solver

to Agenda Setter problem solving involves plenty of resources for any organisation which hampers their productive time which could have been used efficiently to flourish further, the problems are generally dealt by the middle managers whereas when an manager transcends to Agenda Setter level he / she portrays a foray of skills exhibiting leadership and farfetched analysis which is very necessary in this competitive environment of globalisation. Sixthly, As mentioned earlier that todays marketing era demands constant and speedy innovation a manager to be an effective leader cannot waste his / her time simply being on constant war and defence it is necessary for a manager to transcend to the state of leadership should be a Diplomat and not a Warrior. Diplomacy is not cheating in simple terms it is the art of turning the unfavourable factors of the external environment to the favourable ones and thereby creating a barrier to entry and constraints for its rival instead of wasting time and resources on fighting for a place in market merely to survive. Lastly, transcend from Supporting Cast Member to Lead Role in todays neck to neck marketing structure being in the backdrop wont help a manager to achieve desired and requisite growth to become a leader the manager should always take the initiative of leading the organisation from front and hence act as a beacon light for its peers and set example by being a role model.

Out of the seven seismic shifts three shifts are very important for the evaluation of a Sales Executive as witnessed in the case of Harald. The three shifts are as follows1. Problem Solver to Agenda Setter After having the burden of various departments Harald had head spinning number of issues to deal with he soon realised how difficult it was for business heads to prioritize all the issues thrown at them in any given day, week, or month. He now started identifying the white spaces and gray areas throughout the organisation. 2. Warrior to Diplomat In Haralds prior work plan he found himself constantly battling to defeat the competition and marshalling its team to marketing war. But, now to his surprise he found himself devoting most of his time persuading the government entities, negotiating with its clients and collaborating more with the external factors that affect significantly an organisations growth. 3. Supporting Cast Member to Lead Role As witnessed in the case of Harald when he acquired the centre stage in the organisation and now that he was overseeing 3,000-plus people scattered around the globe, that was simply impossible it is necessary to be a role model in the organisation rather than an unnoticed person in the hoard of employees.