Thursday, August 22, 2013

Which path?

A long awaited opportunity to move up a level or two in my organization has finally presented itself. At first glance, the opportunity feels entirely wrong for me. It's not the position that I've been waiting for. It's a role firmly rooted in what people know needs to get done. The job description is entirely conventional, corporate, and uninspired. It just reaffirms my expectation that the job will be conventional, corporate, and uninspired. But why do I feel that way? I'm extending how I see current managers running their groups and assume that my task would be to emulate their approach. For whatever reason I assume that the current practice is optimal and my approach to routine tasks will pretty much match what's being done now.

Would that really be the case? I expect that I would be free to lead my group as I see fit. There is no reason why I would need to follow the protocol established by my predecessors. This is the approach that I've found so chafing and limited. The lack of exploration in solving the challenges of how the lab operates, the failure to foster a sense of teamwork and shared responsibility, a culture driven more by a fear of failure than a desire to excel are the things that I've wanted to change for the last couple years. This could be my opportunity to finally influence the shape and culture of the labs. I can't help but think that I shouldn't let this opportunity pass me by simply because it's not the ideal role that I've imagined myself taking. This opportunity is here. I need to start asking myself what I would make of it rather than simply assuming it's not the right place for me. That right place may fail to materialize.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

What does my frog look like?

A popular productivity tip that I've come across in numerous places is to do your most important task before you take on anything else in your day. Makes sense. Energy levels (and enthusiasm?) are high, you get it out of the way and don't have to worry about it all day, and you make it that much more likely that you'll have a little win to make you feel good about your progress. But what is the most important task? Well, the promoter of this habit might say, it's the task that makes the most progress towards achieving your biggest goal. Well, what's my biggest goal?

I don't aspire to a particular role, at least not a role that currently exists. While I have some notion that I want to be a leader in the organization, the pursuit of a senior management role requires conforming to what the rest of the organization thinks a senior leader should be. Hiring is risky so most people take the candidate that is the least likely to fail spectacularly. That person is usually the one who has done the best job of following the established leadership track. I've dipped my toe in that pool. I work with a guy who's eagerly jumped into the deep end. I would suffer considerably in the role that he's carving out. That's not for me.

I'm drawn to the dirty work that nobody really wants to notice. I like to pursue those problems that other people wish would just go away. They mess up timelines, add risk, and dilute the power of people who want to take the conventional path to leadership, I'm working on an MBA so I can translate the value of getting those problems solved into terms that the business will embrace. There's competitive advantage in being able to solve problems that other companies chose to ignore.

I guess that's my most important task, do that which others would choose to ignore. Find value where others see complications. Become the freak in the organization that does what nobody else can do. That's what comes first. All that bureaucratic crap can wait until after lunch...