I am an old Clint Eastwood fan. I love his movies (well, except Unforgiven – except for the ending when he kills everyone). There is a line in the movie “Magnum Force” where Dirty Harry (Clint) says, “Man’s got to know his limitations”. Great line. As an executive recruiter, I often think about this quote – especially when I am chatting with a candidate who absolutely feels that he/she is qualified to be a “General Manager” or CEO or other Big Kahuna.
I think most exec recruiters will agree that many (many) exec candidates have a very self-inflated view of skills, experiences and capabilities. (OK – - many exec recruiters probably feel the same way about themselves). When it comes to recruiting a General Manager or other role that has actual P&L responsibility, you will not be considered a candidate unless……wait for it……you are currently running one. What I mean here is that YOU….right now….running an actual P&L. Just to be clear. This means that right now you have actual bottom-line management experience…managing both the “P” and the “L”. If this aint you…..you are NOT qualified to run one. (sorry to be blunt)
Obviously, this statement is qualified depending on the size of the company (or business unit) and the scale and the scope of the business.
Example – If Microsoft is looking for a new person to run all of MSN – meaning the entire business….the person who will ultimately report to SteveB and who will be the receiver of his wrath when he/she does not hit the numbers, the fact that you ran business development for some mid-size internet company does NOT make you qualified for the job. I know you think running a BD team of 10 managing some strategic alliances with a few top tech companies makes you qualified but the fact of the matter is that you are NOT
Now, if an early stage startup is looking for a CEO who has extensive contacts within the media sector and they really need to be able to leverage those contacts…..and the priority for the company is to raise capital or forge strategic alliances…..and the company is only 4 or 5 people……YES, the BD guy with decent credentials may get the call (possible…..but not likely). Even in this case the BD/CEO guy will soon be replaced by a real GM as soon as the company starts to scale.
So, I know what you are thinking. How do you become a GM? That my friends is an entirely different subject that I will pontificate on in a future posting.