Know your role
After Bettinger’s business got acquired by Charles Schwab,
he took on a new role in the larger organization and had a performance review with his new manager.
“When you were running Hampton, you were the most capable person in the firm at sales, marketing, accounting … but
now that you’re at Schwab, you’re not the best at any of
those,” the manager said. “You may be competent in all of
them, but you’re not the best at any of them. Your job now is
to go out and find and recruit and recognize those people that
are better than you at each of those things.”
The honesty felt like a slap across the face, but Bettinger
realized that the job really had changed and he needed to
change with it.
“As you move up in the organization, you become less of the
person who does something and more of the person who actually invests in building the team who will go out and actually
do the work,” he says.
If you don’t accept this as your personal role, you’ll likely
squash your organization’s growth. As your role or your organization changes, you need to recognize how you should
change, as well.
“Each time I have moved into a broader range, I’ve had
another (personal assessment) done to try to align the dynamics of the new broader role with my strengths and my long list
of weaknesses,” he says.
This constant re-evaluation of yourself as it relates to the
position you’re in is crucial in business.
“It really begins with emotional intelligence … and at the
core of emotional intelligence is the ability to look in the mirror and be honest with what you see back,” he says.
Often it’s hard to see your own weaknesses, so that’s why
having a third party do the evaluation can help in seeing yourself in the proper light.
“It’s easier for that independent organization to do,” he says.
“They’re not contingent on that leader for their job. They’re
open, and they’ve done this before with hundreds and thousands of executives.
He says once they paint that picture for you, it can be very
telling and accurate.
“Then it just comes down to how motivated are they to
change, because now they have someone holding the mirror
up to them,” Bettinger says. “What they do with that mirror
then will really be the determinant of whether they want to
change, because they believe their organization will be more
healthy and they’ll be better able to serve their employees and
clients and shareholders.”
The ability to be humble and see yourself for what you really are will ultimately dictate how successful you are.
“Success is never permanent,” Bettinger says. “Failure is
never permanent. Career success is attributable to many factors — not just the leader. The leader plays a role but only a
part of it. When you emphasize that if you choose to be a
leader, you’re really choosing to serve others as opposed to be
served yourself, it helps ensure the level of humility that is
needed to both be honest with what you see back in the mirror as well as attract people around you who are highly capable themselves.”
