The Wall Street Journal recently had an intriguing article, entitled “How to Keep Your Best Executives.” In it the authors report on research that says executives are attracted by three particular opportunities, all of which serve to build up their marketability in the job market. These are the opportunity to:
- Take on greater responsibility
- Broaden their skills
- Cultivate a network of influential relationships
What intrigued me about this is the ironic contrast between how a company operates in its marketplace and how it operates with its key executives. While, on the one hand, a firm might boldly adopt an aggressive business growth strategy and take some calculated risks, at the very same time it may be timid, internally, in how it treats its executives and senior managers.
Being bold internally means, as the article suggests, (1) continuing to invest in your executives and senior managers in ways that build their ability to leave you while (2) being sufficiently confident that you can make your organization a very desirable workplace where they will want to continue to work long after the recession has lifted.
Another irony, the very fact that you help your key people become more employable will be a major determining factor in their decision to stay.
This, of course, calls for guts and self confidence on the part of CEO’s. The WSJ article throws down the gauntlet, challenging them to demonstrate that boldness with the very people they rely on.
