This community consistently poo-poos MBAs and business people who, it says, don't contribute and just shuffle paper or find ways to lay people off.
I felt that way when I started my first company, finishing my physics degree. I figured, I helped launch a satellite, I can do what we needed. A couple patents later, we got our first funding and I knew how to solve what problems came our way. I could break down any problem into simple parts, each of which I could solve, for example.
I was blindsided when we went into a recession and my company neared bankruptcy. Years later I realized the importance of teamwork and leadership based in social and emotional skills, especially in difficult times. Difficult times always happen.
The investors squeezed me out of that company. It didn't have to be that way. I went back for an MBA and learned you could learn leadership skills, though I also found that the way they taught them wasn't as effective as active, experiential, project-based learning. I spent the dozen years since refining how to teach them effectively, consistently hearing from my NYU students and coaching clients, including senior executives, that they never knew they could learn skills like how to inspire people, to speak authentically, to find mentors, and so on, let alone in a structured class http://joshuaspodek.com/this-is-one-of-the-greatest-classes-....
I wish I had learned this stuff before I needed it instead of after. I made my courses available in book form http://joshuaspodek.com/initiative and http://joshuaspodek.com/leadership-step-by-step. Whether from my resources or others', these skills can be learned, they are valuable, and you learn them, like any skills, through practice. You have to practice.
Incidentally, the skills improved my relationships throughout life besides business too -- family, friends, girlfriends, etc.
I had a coworker who was a social butterfly. Loved nothing more than talking to customers. She has a huge impact on the business. She had basically developed relationships with customers where she could pick up the phone and call the top physicians in the US and ask a favor - and they would always say yes. Was she good on the technical side? Not really, but she offered incredible value.
Same thing with leadership. Get people to buy into your plans in a large organization is not easy. Again, I had a colleague who was really good at it. She could basically "get shit done". Did she understand the nuances of the business really well? No. But we wouldn't have gotten anything done without her.
HN loves to harp on the technical knowledge, but guess what? That's only a part of a successful business. You might have the best product in the world, but if your customers don't know that or you can't launch it, who cares?
> She has a huge impact on the business. She had basically developed relationships with customers where she could pick up the phone and call the top physicians in the US and ask a favor - and they would always say yes.
Yep, if you do it right, this can be of value. Building up organizational capital is a huge deal in any sort of communal enterprise. OTOH, there are also "social butterflies" in any sort of organization with no real impact to speak of - or even with negative-sum impact! And it can be hard to tell which is which (Goodhart's law again), so the incentives to do it right are also quite limited.
> Get people to buy into your plans in a large organization is not easy.
The trick is usually not to approach it that way. Learn about others' goals and help them out with a step or two in a way that also benefits the goals of others, perhaps your own even. Make sure everyone sees the success when it happens.
Do that over and over and you have a form of leadership.
"Visioncasting" and such can work too, but typically organizational alignment is more organic and ad hoc than hierarchical and executive. There are exceptions in highly structured groups, though.
I'm interested in learning leadership skills. Though, I've noticed it's hurting me a bit in my (entry level) job search as leadership skills are not seen as important since they just need you to code.
Leadership is a skill, not a position. One can be a leader from the bottom of the ladder. It may not be appreciated by recruiters for entry-level positions but it will contribute to your success once you get your foot in the door.
Possibly your client senior executives who don't have - and never knew they could learn - the leadership skills they're employed to wield, are the same senior executives this community is consistently poo-pooing.
"just find ways to lay people off." [..] "The investors squeezed me out of that company."
I felt that way when I started my first company, finishing my physics degree. I figured, I helped launch a satellite, I can do what we needed. A couple patents later, we got our first funding and I knew how to solve what problems came our way. I could break down any problem into simple parts, each of which I could solve, for example.
I was blindsided when we went into a recession and my company neared bankruptcy. Years later I realized the importance of teamwork and leadership based in social and emotional skills, especially in difficult times. Difficult times always happen.
The investors squeezed me out of that company. It didn't have to be that way. I went back for an MBA and learned you could learn leadership skills, though I also found that the way they taught them wasn't as effective as active, experiential, project-based learning. I spent the dozen years since refining how to teach them effectively, consistently hearing from my NYU students and coaching clients, including senior executives, that they never knew they could learn skills like how to inspire people, to speak authentically, to find mentors, and so on, let alone in a structured class http://joshuaspodek.com/this-is-one-of-the-greatest-classes-....
I wish I had learned this stuff before I needed it instead of after. I made my courses available in book form http://joshuaspodek.com/initiative and http://joshuaspodek.com/leadership-step-by-step. Whether from my resources or others', these skills can be learned, they are valuable, and you learn them, like any skills, through practice. You have to practice.
Incidentally, the skills improved my relationships throughout life besides business too -- family, friends, girlfriends, etc.