Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead_. But Gutsy Girls Do - Kate White [33]
WHEN IN DOUBT…
No matter how good your vision is, there will be times when you question it. Perhaps a setback forces you to doubt whether your plan is truly realistic. Or everything appears to be going smoothly but one day you whip your vision out of the folder and realize it sounds grandiose or worse, hokey. The best course is to sit for a couple of days and not make any decision to throw it away. You may simply be on a bumpy patch. If your doubts seem justified, there is only one step to take: Go back to the homework phase exploring strengths and weaknesses. Get input—and be willing to listen to what people say.
What you shouldn't do is share your raw doubts with anyone you work with. Certainly not your boss and not even your most trusted number-two person. You can indicate that you're doing some fact finding, but never show that you're worried about the course you've set.
One time I found myself wrestling with the vision I'd created at a magazine and I decided to share my doubts with several of the top people who worked for me. I told myself I needed their valuable input and the best way to get it was to be perfectly candid, but in hindsight I think that some residual good-girlism was directing me to find someone to agonize with. The trouble with baring your soul is that the people who work for you don't want to see you in any doubt because it automatically threatens their security. The women I confided in looked like children who had just finished watching the forest-fire scene in Bambi. In other words, you're on your own, girl.
HOW A GUTSY GIRL STAGES A TURNAROUND
Sometimes developing a vision is about taking a good operation and making ii relevant for the next ten years. Sometimes it's about giving a sluggish operation a jump start. And sometimes it's about taking a disaster and giving it CPR.
This is called doing a turnaround. It's an exhilarating experience and one of the fastest ways to make your mark. But it does mean being even gutsier in your approach than simply doing a jump start.
The basic trouble with having to do a turnaround is that all eyes are on you. Plus, though higher-ups realize on an intellectual level that you must get in there and study the situation before you make any moves, they seem to develop a terrible case of ants in the pants as you are finding your way. They want something to happen and they want it to happen fast.
There are three little tips I've learned over the years from watching women who have done turnarounds.
1. Do Something Quickly That You Can Quantify
And better yet, something that improves the bottom line. When Shirley DeLibero started at New Jersey Transit, she picked three areas she could “deliver” on fairly quickly and announced them to the board of directors. One was operations and maintenance. When the service and on-time record improved quickly, those were factors everyone could see, plus, of course, they began to draw more riders.
2. Try Something Stunning That Gets Everyone Talking
I first heard this advice articulated by Pat Fili, now head of daytime programming for ABC, when we interviewed her for Working Woman. At the time she was head of programming for Lifetime and she'd been given the job of turning the cable network “for women” around. When she'd arrived at Lifetime, the channel carried reruns of long-forgotten network TV series like MacGruder & Loud and Partners in Crime, and plain drivel, including the insufferable Attitudes. The heat was on to do a quick turnaround. Fili, however, decided against making a lot of immediate changes because she needed to take the time to watch and study. But she also knew she had to do something to make it look like she was making a major impact. So she bought the rights to The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd. It generated lots of excitement, created the feeling that “Hey,, this isn't the same old Lifetime anymore,” but it