Certain principles of leadership can carry over from different industries, so while your company might not seem to have much in common with a sports team, you might be able to learn something from the way one is run.
The Boston Globe recently did a profile on Zdeno Chara, the captain of that city's hockey team, the Boston Bruins. Of multiple interesting factors picked up on by this reporter, one seems relevant to the CEO search process: Chara's aversion to the word "rookie."
We may be so accustomed to this term that it seems like no big deal, especially to use it within the context of the world of sports, where it almost seems like an official position, almost like saying "junior" or "senior."
But according to this report, the word "rookie" on its own carried with it a whole mode of thinking that put the more experienced players on a higher plane, and left the newcomers isolated. Chara also reportedly encourages his multilingual team to foster inclusiveness by speaking a common tongue, (English) when all together.
Inc.com writer Adam Vaccaro seems to have no problem extracting the usable lesson for businesses.
"Take demeaning terms like "junior" out of titles," he writes. "And if you have a reverse mentoring program, consider eliminating the term 'reverse.' Mentoring is mentoring."
To create a positive CEO experience that will allow a new executive to quickly become part of your team, younger professionals within the organization should not be marginalized just because of their age. When you work with YES Partners, you will have the tools to find the right leader for your team.
Finding people is easy, but finding the RIGHT people is not. YES Partners helps companies FIND the right people – for all company functions, across many industries and globally.
