[MUSIC] As you become recognized as a leader, you will be more visible and you will be more watched. One of my favorite authors is Joe Badaracco from Harvard and he's written a number of case studies, articles, books. I recommend all of his work, it's terrific work. He and Allen Webb wrote an article called The View from the Trenches where they did in-depth interviews with 30 recent graduates of the Harvard MBA program. Those people has been out of the world of work for a little while. And one of the things they discovered, which probably won't surprise you very much, is that many if not most of these young professionals had encountered situations where they've been pressured to do things that they found sleazy or worse. Remember when we talked about the informal versus the formal curriculum where they teach you one thing and then what they actually do is another thing? The informal curriculum in a lot of places doesn't match what the formal curriculum is and so you'll be making choices. And as you become more visible as a leader, your choices will influence the choices of others. In A View from the Trenches there's one powerful quote that says, never forget there's not a moment that goes by when the people who are working for you aren't watching and listening. Your choices, the things you say, the things you do will be watched and they will set the tone. They'll set the tone for your work group. They'll be emulated by others. They'll represent your organization outside. And they'll ripple within your organization. As you grow as a leader, your decisions will bind more people, they will affect more people. And they'll come to define not just you and who you are and what you stand for. They'll come to define your workgroup and your company, in terms of who they are and what they stand for. All of this is one of the reasons that for many years I've been collecting two-minute challenges from professionals, students, professionals I know. And why we use them throughout this course, and throughout my writing and teaching, always with permission, always with people's identities a little bit disguised to protect their careers. Because they represent real challenges faced by real professionals, to give you an opportunity to practice. To think about your tools, your skills, and most of all, your values. Because as you explore these things, you'll come to know yourself better and come to know what you want to do in circumstances and have the tools to be prepared to do it. Before you act, it's often worth recalling the saying attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, What you do speaks so loudly I can not hear what you say. People are watching. >> Interacting with the employees and understanding that you are on display. Is that a frown, because I'm thinking of something that is bothering me, if I pass an employee I see once every other week in the hallway, could be misinterpreted as as frown by them. Is that you have a responsibility as an executive, as a manager, that, as you're walking around, you represent that organization. And when individuals look up the ladder, they expect to see the most positive aspect of you. And most individuals that you pass in the hallway think that you're thinking of them. And to think otherwise, you would think that that's very selfish of them, but it is a lot of your entry level employees, your tellers, your clerks, which is the bulk of our operations are young. And they have a lot of time to think about themselves. They don't have families yet and they're focused solely on their career. And as you mature and as you become an executive and a manager, you're busy, or you're usually starting a family, so you are thinking about multiple things. >> For me, when I first became a manager, one of the biggest challenges was really having a birds eye view instead of just really focused in on the task that I was doing at the time, as an associate, or as a senior associate. So, as you grow into a leader, one of the biggest changes is really having the bigger perspective of how every aspect of our work impacts everything in that area or the group or the team. And understanding how little things can really make a bigger impact. So having that outside perspective in was the biggest change for me when becoming a manager. My advice for people who are looking to grow into leaders or grow into management positions is to really start taking that bird's eye view as soon as they can. So, even if you're in charge of only one part of an assignment, or one line of the balance sheet, or one specific task for a project, there's always a bigger impact and there's always a way to ask a question. Or what is the long-term impact on the client or what is the overall impact of what we're doing in this project, in this specific function to the rest of the business or globally. So just being able to start asking those questions of what the bigger picture is can help you understand it. So that when you are a leader and you are a manager, you're ready to understand that bigger vision. [MUSIC]
