How Hard Work got Chris Fired
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Heads down hard work lands you out the door, eventually.
Hard work is essential, but not enough, to keep earning promotions.
Fired not promoted:
The board fired the CEO of Callidus Software (NASDAQ: CALD) and Chris Cabrera assumed he was in line for the job. It made sense. Chris was the successful senior vice president of operations. Under his leadership Callidus grew from zero to greater than $75 million in annual sales. In 2003, they raised more than $70 million, when Callidus went public.
But, six months after the CEO was fired, Chris wasn’t promoted.
He was fired.
Lessons from walking the plank:
What happened?
Chris said he spent too much time focused on his team.
“My team loved me. We were doing great.”
But, Chris explained that he’d neglected relationships outside of his team.
“I was very insular. I had done a lousy job of managing up and down.”
Hard work apart from relationships
becomes a barrier to success.
The higher you go the more relationships matter.
Chris didn’t become CEO of Callidus because other teams and the board didn’t support him. He had neglected company-wide relationships.
Seven creative ways to build company-wide relationships:
- Invite leaders from other departments to your meetings.
- Ask for advice and suggestions from those over and under. Make others feel important.
- Ask for help. Those who help you feel connected to you. But, avoid being weak and needy. Ask for “easy help,” something easy for them and useful to you.
- Give more than you take.
- Volunteer for cross-functional assignments.
- Express gratitude, lots of it. Send thank-you notes.
- Think of people as people, not resources.
Warning:
Don’t build relationships by being a butt-kisser. Make what’s best for the company best for you.
Up:
Chris “left” Callidus and started Xactly, #13 Best Small Place to Work in 2012.
How can rising leaders build company-wide relationships?
Reminds me of “What got you here won’t get you there”. There are transition points in career paths where you must grow and change to move forward. If you can’t shift to a higher gear you’ll just burn up the engine.
Well said Jeff. We enter the world of work thinking one way but come to realize we need to think another. Cheers
How bout this ????? How do the folks at Xctly feel about Chris’ firing?
Glad, happy, thrilled, delirious, inspired?????
How Chris feel about getting free from Caligula and freed up to get to what was next?? Next seems to be ok now, right?
Pretty cool to see what happens if u ask different questions, right?
Sometimes tearing down is really clearing the way to build up!!!!
Wakey wakey. We might not always have a view big enough to understand the bigger picture!
SP back in!!
“The higher you go the more relationships matter.” I liked this line and I truly agree with this. Thank you Sir for sharing such informative article. I will surely remember the lines here said by you. Thanks you once again. 🙂
Best wishes on your leadership journey.
If relationships don’t matter where you are right now, don’t fret about going higher!
How about a thumbs up from the congregation on THAT????!!!! Hehe
The degree of relationships mattering is like the degree of a woman being with child, either is or ain’t, no degree or scale! They don’t progress in importance over time. Treat every relationship like that and see wha happens!!!
SP Out!!!!!
I liked it, ‘The degree of relationships mattering is like the degree of a woman being with child’. Thanks Scott for your precious time. I loved it. 🙂
Thank You!!!!!
Hey AV, join me and Simon Sinek changing the world inspiring one mind at a time.
Start with Why
SP back in!!!
Thanks Scott. I would love to. I searched your blog, can you please send me your link. I will join your blog. 🙂
Many leaders experience this “down time up” pattern (Iacocca, fired at Ford, resurgence Chrysler) …It’s so unfortunate that set backs are such an effective learning tool. In a similar way the journey up can be isolating, after all focus is a singular experience, and staff meetings can feel like a competitive event when resources are scarce,. Guiding the broader team can easily become lost in company/department goals. As you point out, it’s unlikely to “just happen”
Thanks for another great illustration of using failure as a platform.
Fighting off the tendency to isolate is a big challenge for many of us.
Excellent post. And well-put reminder for many of us who slip up and “forget” occasionally.
Lynn Marie
It’s too easy to focus on projects and neglect people. Cheeres
Chris was fired for only focusing on his team. Which is probably why his small company is excellent to work for. The question remains though, did he even want the job of CEO of that company? I think he wanted his own little team. I think he wanted CEO status but not there. I think you could flip this one on its head and do a different post on it as well. If Chris is so gifted at focusing on his team, that is also not a bad thing in leadership? or is it?
Chris did want the job. What you see in him is how a good thing becomes bad when taken to an extreme.
Love your questions and observations.
What a great reminder to lead across the organization. It’s sometimes hard to ignore the pressing need to create results in your own department. I love the idea of including others in your projects in small ways. Including others in this way creates buy-in for them– into your success!
Thanks Justin. Pressing needs do capture our attention…Chris’s story reminds us to lift our heads up and look around once in awhile. Best success to you
The book title “What got you here, won’t get you there” by Marshall Goldsmith speaks volumes about what got in Chris’s way. Emergent leaders need to change up there game plan by leading at a higher level, which commonly means doing less of what you’d been doing.
There are a lot of “Chris’s” in the world facing this same challenge.
Glad you mentioned Goldsmith’s book …it’s a classic. Cheers
What an awesome story Dan.
Most people call it “politics” and avoid it. Dumb.
Internal networking is just as (if not more) important than external networking. And you have to be INTENTIONAL about it. Put it in your calendar each day or week.
-Go to lunch with someone every week or two. That’s 30+ lunches a year with someone outside of your team!
-Write thank you notes to others for helping.
-Help others.
-Applaud others.
-Invite others to help.
-Get to KNOW them.
Thanks for all the suggestions Matt.
YOu bring up politics and so did I because Chris previously said he hated politics. I’ll have to share his response to my questions about politics vs. building relationships across an organization.
Have a great weekend
I can think of absolutley nothing to add Dan. Once again, I am wiser for the experience. “Thanks”
Thanks Steve…looking forward to our next meeting
As are we Dan.
Well, I tried to solve my drinking problem with pot, pot problem with cocaine, cocaine problem with mushrooms SO WHAT DO I KNOW?
Then I tried to solve my living problem with puffing up my ego and attempting to wrest happiness and satisfaction out of this life my managing it well. Opps!
Then after complete and total human failure in every imagineable way I SURRENDERED from my self appointed postiion of Ruler of The Universe! Whew, that was exhilarating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Found the 12 Steps to Freedom and been trudging the road to happy destiny ever since.
Know that may sound a little left fieldish…………LOL AND IT PROBABLY IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But today all I got to do is do the next right thing that is right in front of me and leave the results to fall into place the way THEY ARE GONNA ANYWAY! Imagine THAT!!!!!
If I truly make myself available to be free of self then my HP might equip me to be of maximum service to some of his other kids.
Or I can go back to attempting to be Ruler of The Universe and read books, try different techniques, frame how I am going to get others to do my will, which if they did THEY would be ridiculously happy and it won’t work and I will BE MISERABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No Thanks, been there done DAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So not sure if that helps with your post Dan but ALL I GOT so HERE>>>>>>>>Take what you like and leave the rest!
SP OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess the idea is don’t be self-absorbed… “be free of self” … did I get it?
Yep!!!!
Third Step Prayer. AA stuff
God(or whatever u want to call your concept of god) I offer myself to Thee to build with me and do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage if self, that I may better do thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love and Thy way of life. May I do Thy will always!
Now just repeat that for 10,000 hours like Gladwell says in Outliers and you will begin like the folks who work the 12 Steps to Freedom that you seem now to have aquired you Sixth Sense, your intuition and with practice you know you can rely on it! Yeah that is in the Big Book!! The Sixth Sense part.
Then you practice just doing the next right thing that is right in front of you and whatever the results are are none if your business. I have found things have a way of sorting themselves out!!!! Or I could fret about them all day long as they find a way to sort themselves out!!!! Duh!!!!!
Not seeming to have a lot to do with the question of drink does it?
That AA Big Book the greatest manual on human relations ever written. If you do not believe me read it!!!!!! And if not how have millions with seemingly different problems all found a solution to their word doing these suggested Steps?
Millions and millions of people using those 12 Steps to Freedom with all seemingly different problems that brought them to the Steps. Wakey wakey!!!! Might help you with what ails you if wanna open that grey matter between ur ears!!! If??????
Only one problem Conscious separation from ones concept of their maker. Only one solution, conscious contact with your concept of what you think God is.
Or use your ego to try and wrest happiness and satisfaction out of this life only if you can manage it well! Go ahead try it some more!!!!!! Lol
God either is or she isn’t!! If she is basing a life dependent in her seems very likely to be a wise choice does it not????
Hollis explains it all very well hope you get a chance to listen!!
SP back in!!!!
A solution to their problem, not their word. So sorry for typo
There is a really quick touchstone in my daily life.
No matter what, no matter where, I just ask myself
Is it the truth? If it is I act – if not I don’t. If we keep life short, sweet and to the point the WORK gets done, Jo (I think only a woman could say that) Scott doesn’t the truth relieve us of the bondage of self?
Well Jo asking me what will rid us of the Bondage of Self? LOL Whew! You may have a great deal more confidence in my ability to answer that question than ANYONE! Certainly me!!! hehe
I do have a most excellent guide though, The 12 Steps. I just had to catch a terminal, chronic, cancer of the soul that brought me to my knees asking from the depths of my soul to for God’s help…………to begin the process of me working towards developing that Sixth Sense you seem to rely on.
What I can say is I deeply appreciate your dependence on your intuition! Seems you have that Sixth Sense the AA Big Book talks about.
I agree with your question that Truth relieves us of the bondage of self.
Being other centered, not self centered. Being about serving others and realizing when I am focused on that, my needs miraculously get met.
Resigning from my self-appointed position of Ruler of the Universe. Being an agent of my Higher Powers Will, no my own and quit playing God.
Yeah those are some of the things the rock is cooking!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU JO!!!!!!!! You touch as many people with that stone of yours everyday, deal?
SP back in!
Being other centered, not self centered. Being about serving others and realizing when I am focused on that, my needs miraculously get met.
Resigning from my self-appointed position of Ruler of the Universe. Being an agent of my Higher Powers Will, no my own and quit playing God.
aha? I think I was after a short cut! When I think I am the mistress of the universe I go “It is true?’
“Still the mind – avoid the grind” Yes? Jo
Helping cross-functionally and including other departments is another way for us to develop ourselves. At this level in an organization you can’t be knowledgable about only one area. Chris was the head of Ops, but to be CEO one must also be knowledgable about sales, marketing, finance, and more. By building these relationships we show interest in these other groups, and that builds their confidence in us. Great post to think about how we relate with our peers as well as our teams. Thanks.
Thanks Anthony. I love your statement.. “we show interest in these other groups, and that builds their confidence in us.” KaPOW
Great advice…but in my time I’ve seen the butt-kissing thing work really well!!
Some cultures reward butt-kissing. In those cultures you’d have to kiss butt to change the culture. 🙂
The point is that all this butt-kissing takes time. I am beginning to wonder does anyone work? Jo
Great post as always, Dan. I’m reminded of the culture surrounding promotions for senior officers in the military. For colonels to become generals (or admirals, if they are doing the Navy thing), they know they have to have more than experience. They have to be ‘political.’ For them, that means they have to have that network of supporters, relationships where the decision makers are comfortable pinning that first, second, third or fourth star on them.
It seems the ability to develop relationships before you need them demonstrates you can develop them after you need them. Thanks for adding your insights.
I wonder what they DID do at Callidus. What person DID they promote and how well have they done since? Sure chemistry and culture are important factors overall for success. Balance and community are important — and the old CEO probably could see some of the overall situation and coached and mentored, maybe. I sense a strong culture of My Team, My Team, My Team.
We shoulda played Lost Dutchman there to separate out the competition from the collaboration and generate a real discussion of all the perceived issues that people felt were stopping the entire organization from mining more gold and moving more forward.
.
I didn’t explore this with Chris…interesting questions. Thanks Scott!
. . . And, yet sometimes, try as you might, the firing my be unavoidable.
Fifteen years ago, I was hired by a small closely-held consulting company to create a one-person sales function for them. In three years, my efforts increased their sales by over 90%. And I took on cross-functional tasks during this period as well. Only to be forced out in my 4th year by the senior partner/CEO. Less than a year later, he had replaced me with his oldest son.
Small, closely held companies can be challenging — especially if there is family involved and you are not family. For me, even though the short term impact was a big blow; it was an incredible learning experience — and ultimately, a confidence builder.
The main lesson I took from this is that even though in retrospect, this outcome was probably unavoidable, it shouldn’t stop you from making the effort and challenging yourself.
Great and I’m sure, at the time, disappointing story. I think the family business world does have it’s own rules. Blood is thicker than water. Wonderful add to the conversation.
Thanks, Dan. This is great advice not only for the leader trying to retain his/her job, but for anyone who depends on relationships. Squint just a little and you can see a consultant losing clients for the same reason, or a small shop owner losing regular customers.
But squinting is scary! 🙂 Thanks for expanding the application… cheers
Hey bmuse Who exactly are the folks not dependent on relationships? Who are these people?
Did that sound like Seinfeld? Hehe
No man is an island, women either!!!!
Treat everyone today like it is the last time u will ever see them! It might be!!!!
What if it is and u don’t treat them real special nice? Then how ya gonna feel?
Hedge your bet!!!! Treat everyone greatly!! How can that be bad?
SP back in!!!!
Manage up, down, and laterally! Remember too, those you see on your way up, you just might see on your way down. Respect and connect.
Interesting you use the term “respect.” It became on of the core values of Xactly. Great minds think alike. Cheers and have a great weekend
Yes yes yes yes yes!!!!
Did I mention YES!!!!
SP back in!!!!!
This is a mistake many of us mere mortals make: becoming self (team)-focused and tunnel-visioned. For most, it does NOT always work out as well as it did for Chris, though.
I’ve seen it spiral downward first and then outward later… outward as in out the door.
I’ve seen bosses who “loved” their team and thought everyone else was the enemy. I think it hurts there followers as much or more than it hurts them.
Not what happens, what one does about it!!!!
No victims, just volunteers!
Which does it appear Chris chose to see himself as?
Chris Rocks cause he chose too!!!
I Concur!!!
SP back in!!!!!
It sounds like a simple case of sphere of influence. Like what we were discussing the other day, authority and influence are not mutually exclusive, but they are not synonymous either. The larger your sphere of influence the more influential you usually are, depending on the effectiveness of your influence. If we can build enough influence and the right close relationships, our spheres will broaden. Not all our relationships have to be close ones, but we have to be able to make people feel as if we are personable. When we are myopic with our relationships, we tend to be myopic in our persepctives and peoples perspectives of us tend to to reciprocal in that manner and our sphere decreases.
Wonderful thoughts Randy…what you got me thinking about is the goal of influence. So we develop our sphere of influence but how do we want to influence others. What value to we bring. How do we leverage our gifts/talents once we have earned the right to influence.
Thanks man
VERY good questions indeed Dan!!!! So many choices we have indeed…
Man Randy that is some vocabulary you are packing Dude!!!!
Had to break out my theosophists to keep up wit dat!!!!
Ok pretty much on the down low with you except the part where you say, “we have to be able to make people feel as if we are personable”.
Now since I brought that up and into the light our blog awareness and you thinking about what you said, you stand by that?
Just asking, don’t taze me bro!!!!
I find Authenticity Rocks!!!! Trying to be what I am not really doesnt!
I am a short cute fella with some amazing charm and a bit of a sharp wit, right…..
Imagine my difficulty trying to get people to see me as tall dark and handsome? Can you see that going over well?
Bottom I is who I is and HP could have made me trillions of options different than she did! Coins have put me here, wherever here is, infinitely different!!! Not!
Chose to make me me just like this and that is amazing and spectacular!
Did the same with u so I am on no ego trip!!!! We are all amazing and it is amazing we are right here, right now… Whatever time it is and wherever here is!!!!
So I have found it is ok just to be me and dog gone it, people like me!!!! And of course some don’t!! So what, next!!!!
SP back in!!!!
LOL Scott, I’m with ya. I think authenticity is a much more meaningful level, but in most corporate cases I don’t expect it. I have seen many a case where I thought they were being authentic, but ended up they were just good at what they did:) Honestly, we need to be as personable as we can as well as authentic but when you get the top levels, most CEO types are very busy and it ends up being their ability to make people feel they are being listened to more than anything else that helps keep them where they are. In the meantime, the personal business is done afterhours and behind closed doors. Call me cynical;)
LOL No Randy, I will just think of you as an honest good dude packing a whale of a vocabulary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seems backwards to me, if what you are saying is true is the higher a dude or gal goes, the tighter the sphincter gets instead of the heart and gratitude expanding!
Go figure!!!!!!!!
Sp Back in!
Thanks for the reminder, Dan. Recently went through an outside ISO 14001 audit and a major finding was a weak corrective action process. In part, this is due to poor focus on determining causes, but more importantly, is our failure to follow through, both by the individual and his/her leadership. I am tasked with writing a stronger process, which will place a greater emphasis on leadership. Your blog today reminds me to keep my relationships with leadership in mind along with the degree to which they will tolerate accountability.
Great application Jim. You made me think about the nature of cross-functional relationship rather than just making them. Powerful adjustment.
Thank you, Dan! This is a really usefull list. Fundammentaly, I think men are much better in up- and cross networking. The subjects and small talks with other men (who usually occupy leading positions) are easier. Plus, women preferably stay in their comfort zones. At least, these are my observations – with some remarkable exceptions. 😉
Don’t you feel that we treat grown men and women who think they are leaders as babies?
* Ask for help so they feel important. Make sure it is easy so that they don’t really have to help – just look like they do.
*Don’t kiss but- don’t be needy – be just right so that they feel really good about themselves. Let’s face they have to feel as though their leadership could never be threatened because otherwise they might feel insecure.
* Now everybody also at the same time don’t lose your soul, make sure you are authentic and real.
* As well while you are making up tasks for this superhuman boss so that they don’t really have to do it but so they can take credit make sure that you really do get your job done.
And if you slip – guess what you loose.
Imagine if you taught a child that way. Ask mum and dad for help with homework so long as they can do it. Now if it is even too hard for them – cover that up because they might fee insecure! And by the way kids make sure you get top grade so that mum and dad can brag about “their” little…… at work. This will make them feel good. If you get your chores does as well – you may get pocket money. Don’t slip on this ow yer hear?
Jo
Coddling blows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Being Authentic ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!
Just keep it real my homies!
Just like my opinion man( The Dude from The Big Lebowksi) Now THAT is an Authentic Dude!!!!!!!!!
I say everyone be more like the Dude!
I Concur!
Shifterp, Back in!
What does this mean? Shifterp, Back in! It might be because I am OZI? Jo
Great post, and absolutely agree. Managing up and down is a lost art, and your thoughts get the juices flowing about being better at. Thanks for sharing!
I find the 7 tips very useful. Thank you very much!