We may be biased, but in our view, VIM Executive Coaching clients ask the most insightful leadership questions we have ever heard.
Not long ago, a client asked:
“They [whoever they may be] are always asking, ‘Do you want to die on that mountain?’ How will I know when I come across that mountain?”
She then asked an insightful follow-up question: “Is it worth it?”
Only One Way to Answer
It wasn’t a trick question. She is an extremely bright, well-respected leader not given to folly or supposition.
I related the following story that I hoped would help her. It is a true story that took place many years ago. I can’t reveal his organization or name, of course, and I am going to keep the issue intentionally obscured, but its essence will convey an important lesson.
The executive, strange as it may sound in reference to this story, was the head of IT not of HR. He was a vice president and a favorite of the CEO. A tall, powerful man, he had been a Division – 1 basketball player. While he admitted he was “passable,” but not great, he was known as the consummate team player and in fact, was outspoken in his support and close friendship with the team’s only minority player.
This fact, plus his excellent work in expanding the IT Department, led the CEO to asking the man to head the company’s EEO office until a more HR oriented executive could be put in place. The company was hardly a “mom and pop” operation. The clerical staff alone numbered around 3,000.
Our executive protested, he told the CEO he was hardly qualified to head EEO efforts even on a temporary basis. The CEO disagreed.
Stepping into a Culture
The CEO knew what he was doing. The “new” temporary EEO administrator was well aware of the company culture. While he liked many of the executives, there were powerful people above him (between he and the CEO) who were not only resistant to change, but loathe to promote or even hire minority employees.
His first run-in with the upper echelon came at a retirement party for an executive. He overheard an extremely inappropriate joke. Many laughed. It was his first look “at the mountain.” Instead of walking away, he “dressed-down” the man making the joke. He asked the man, who was his superior, “What rock have you been living under to use a derogatory word like that?”
An argument ensued. While nothing else came of it, the next issue would have lasting implications.
A highly-qualified minority candidate, was told by another executive that she would not be considered for the front-desk executive job because “she didn’t fit in with the image of what they wanted.” In truth, she was perfect, and well-liked, except by the man who denied her. In desperation, she went to the new EEO person and told him the story. It is where he saw his mountain. Again, this story is true.
“I thought back to my friend and teammate,” he said. “My friend grew up in the south during a hate-filled time. He told me of the injustices his family had faced. I was in a position to make a difference here, and I took it. I used my friend’s words to guide me.”
Our IT, turned EEO executive, “went to war” not only on behalf of the receptionist but he instituted a program to bring more minority candidates into his workplace. He “won,” but to his mind it was not a game but the right thing to do.
The Price
The executive brought about many positive changes to the company, and the CEO admired his work, but it has to be noted that his fight against the injustices most probably kept him from achieving the highest levels of leadership in his company. Forces “closed around him.”
He had no regrets. He was authentic in his passion and devotion to those he felt he truly served. He was mindful of his stance and was responsive to those who truly needed him. He left the company and went on to another organization that deeply valued his integrity. He was, in fact, a true leader.
After the story was related to our client, we told her, simply, that there could be mountains in her future that she would have to conquer. True leaders can’t avoid them. She would know those mountains for what they were.
If she was authentic and compassionate in climbing them, she would reach the summit. While there could be bumps and scrapes along the way, it will make the view all that much more beautiful.