Politics: a dirty word to many. For others, it's knowing how to work the power within organizations to their advantage. We've all heard the stories and watched colleagues manipulated by an influential, powerful boss.
Here's a classic story of corporate politics with a positive ending – using a counterintuitive approach with a controlling boss. This is a real life example of one woman's story on how you CAN move ahead and come out the other side – with a bigger role, values and sanity intact.
Tony, a Senior Vice President for a Global Cosmetic company based in Hong Kong was asked to consider a role at corporate headquarters in New York. The move would put him next in line for the CEO position. Tony was viewed as a strong leader in the cosmetics industry and was a philanthropic and active member in his community. He began his career in marketing and never lost sight of the importance of PR, communication and positioning power. He was frequently in the news, photographed with foreign dignitaries, entertainers and others in power. As the head of a large, global brand, it was his role to entertain and be seen at all the right places. He had boundless energy and fastidious attention to detail.
The promotion meant Tony had to pick an heir apparent. For the past 5 year, his boss and mentor had been telling him to groom a successor. Tony had two qualified VP's on his team, Tom and Georgina.
Tom was a strong Marketing guru and had Tony's attention to detail. Tom's marketing events and projects ran smoothly and efficiently, winning team awards.
Georgina, with a background in brand management, positioned both Tony and the company as industry leaders. Through Georgina's efforts, the business was viewed as the number one cosmetic company in Asia Pacific.
Both were extremely capable, and the inside gossip was that Tony would likely pick Georgina. She had leadership presence, was very well known within the industry and a strategic thinker, something Tony's team needed.
A week before the succession planning meeting Tony called Georgina into his office and suggested she take on a different role, as he knew the CEO was looking for a Global Head of Brand Management. He said to her, "I want to give Tom an opportunity to grow. He deserves more recognition – everyone seems to know you but no one seems to know who Tom is, he's fading under your shadow…"
Tony also mentioned he wanted to promote Javier, a Director of Research and Design, to take over Georgina's role. Tony believed the function needed to re-engineer some of the processes and this was the perfect time to make the move. Tony did not know Javier, but had heard he was extremely detailed and a brilliant project manager.
Caught off guard, Georgina listened, said little at first while she sat there, and soon saw the chess pieces falling into place. The role Tony was suggesting was a figure head at best, without a P&L. Making this move would completely derail Georgina's chances of becoming the CEO. Tony wanted to move Georgina out and put two people in place he could control, allowing him to continue his involvement and control the Asia market from New York.
Georgina was furious, and started in on him, visibly upset. Yet she knew Tony's influence, and quickly took a step back. Clearly angry, she realized her anger would not change anything with him at that moment and more likely impact her career negatively. Thinking on her feet, she changed her approach and said she would think about the offer. She was gracious with her parting comments and upon leaving Tony was not certain when she left exactly what she was thinking.
Georgina (like Tony) was viewed as an influential industry leader. She went home, tapped into her network and made a few calls to find out what was happening inside corporate. Within a few weeks, Tom and Javier were both promoted. And, Georgina jumped two levels ahead to Executive Vice President of a larger, global function, effectively the same level as Tony.
How did she do it?
Georgina had bigger goals and was always thinking ahead – two steps ahead. Through her contacts, she heard about a new position and decided to raise her profile, through a meticulously planned PR campaign.
Before Tony left the company organized a party to celebrate Tony's contributions and Tom and Javier's promotions. Tom asked Georgina if she would give the closing remarks as Javier was out of town and Tom was uncomfortable giving a public send off – particularly in view of what happened.
Her first thoughts, "you've got to be kidding – no way I'd ever show up to that jerk's going away party – closing remarks? I couldn't say anything that could be repeated in public – tell them I have a family engagement and screw all of them - I'm on to bigger things."
That is what she thought.
But then thinking more and looking at the political dimension of the party, the players and all the forthcoming roles, she changed her strategy.
Georgina agreed to give the closing remarks, spent a week writing, interviewing and getting quotes on Tony. During the interviews, she learned much about Tony and more on perceptions of Tony in the marketplace – many were not flattering, and to her surprise some people had nothing worth quoting or were indifferent to him.
Georgina gave a gracious, funny and heartfelt speech that resulted in a standing ovation for Tony. She remarked on his business achievements, leadership within the community, his philanthropy and his guidance. Tony was given a royal send off – within a few short weeks, Georgina's promotion to EVP was announced.
No one in the room could have possibly known – all eyes were on Tony's succession plan. Had she been promoted under Tony she would have lost her opportunity for the EVP role. If she reacted poorly to Tony's decision, she would have lost her chance to move into a bigger role. She landed a better job than Tony, Tom or Javier, a role with more power, influence and prestige. She's now competing with Tony for the CEO's role.
