For over 22 years I was employed in senior roles by one of the world’s largest IT companies, with the last 7 years of that being the individual primarily responsible for customer relationships with key customers. The longer I worked in IT the more I realized that people and relationships were the key to success - not technology.
More recently, I’ve been struck by how many parallels there are between the role of Mayor and the roles in which I had great success. For example, I had no real authority, nor did I have anyone who reported to me - just like Mayors. IOW, I wasn’t anyone’s ‘boss’. I couldn’t ‘command’ or ‘order’ anyone to do anything, nor could I fire or discipline them if they didn’t. Every one of the individuals who worked on those service delivery teams reported to someone else, yet we were able to turn customer accounts with poor relationships into successful, winning teams with excellent relationships. How?
Understand people, what’s important to them and what they need to be successful.
Focus on long-term relationships and building trust, not achieving short-term goals or targets.
Build and maintain transparency and openness. Share good news and bad. Communicate, communicate, communicate.
Recognize you’re not the smartest person in the room, and that others often are quite capable of contributing to team success. Remember: "None of us is as smart as all of us." -- Kenneth H. Blanchard
Understand that criticism is almost always expressed by people who CARE about improving a situation - not merely complaining for the sake of complaining. Never miss an opportunity to improve.
Develop, communicate and discuss compelling facts as a means to persuade and collaborate. Create solutions by building consensus.
I look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate the above as your Mayor.
Questions? Comments? Let me know.
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