Talk about Superman pulling a phone-booth style switcheroo. There’s a New Zealander named David Kirk who is now CEO of one of the biggest media outfits in Australia, Fairfax Holdings. Kirk is quite a guy, according to a report I saw recently on CNN International. He was a world-class rugby player and member of a championship rugby team. After receiving his medical degree, he went on to become a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in England. Kirk then hung out his shingle as a consultant with McKinsey & Company. And now he’s a newspaper mogul.
In the interview, Kirk said something unforgettable: “Getting through the door is one thing. Being a success on the other side is another.” Kirk’s point: The credentials that may get you a job are no guarantee that you will succeed at it.
• Warren Harding was an Ohio newspaper publisher who looked as presidential as any dude in American history. After a lackluster career as lieutenant governor and U.S. senator, he couldn’t shake what others persisted in seeing in him. He landed in the White House … and subsequently in the basement of history as one of the worst U.S. presidents ever. In his book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell includes a chapter titled: “The Warren Harding error: why we fall for tall, dark, and handsome men.”
• Maury Wills was a National League baseball MVP and Gold Glover. Above all, Wills was kinetic energy personified. He was the greatest base runner on the diamond since Ty Cobb and the first to steal more than a hundred bases. In 1980-1981, Wills tried his hand at managing the Seattle Mariners but lasted less than a year.
• As a screenwriter, Willard Huyck has been a dazzler with hits like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and American Graffiti. But when Huyck tried directing, he didn’t chalk up any Academy awards with four films he directed in the 1970s and ‘80s. In fact, his last directorial effort—Howard the Duck—was filleted by movie critics.
• Michael Jordan’s footprints as a player may be unsurpassed in NBA history, but in baseball, those same feet also later underpinned a Birmingham Barons minor leaguer with a meager .202 average.
You may be a radiant butterfly today. Change your wings, and there’s no guarantee you’ll stay one. In fact, you may come up branded a caterpillar.
Considering a switch? Here’s some advice to weigh before diving into the deep end of the pool:
Don’t flaunt old medals. Nothing a newcomer can say curdles more blood than: “When I was at Pickleheimer’s, the best thing we ever did was ….”
Focus on the skills the organization needs you to put to work. For example, your last job may have required you to be a crackerjack planner. Put your planning magic to work. But your new top focus may be building teamwork in a divided, bickering organization.
Find building blocks … even in the ruins. Focus on the best people and ideas that exist in the present organization. Even crumbling organizations have them. Socialize with these folks. Be helpful to them. Learn from them.
Start the clock, and watch that second hand. Others may let you coast on the “learning curve” but don’t let yourself coast. Too often, learning curves are shortcuts to head-on disaster.
Prepare to win. Find out who are the best people doing your new job in your entire industry. What makes them great? What can make you even better?
Perhaps the best advice is to transition in stages. The Colts Super Bowl winning coach Tony Dungy was never drafted in the National Football League and yet he still made the Pittsburgh Steelers team. His first berth, after making his switch to coaching was with the University of Minnesota, where he had amassed a terrific collegiate career. Then came a stint as an assistant to Chuck Noll, his former Steelers’ coach. Many smooth career switches show another lesson: Those people who succeed in staking out new careers often have built a network of loyal supporters and friends. At any career doorway, your aura may get you in, but your allies count for plenty while you find your footing.
Mackay’s Moral: You won’t win Monday night football with Sunday afternoon’s playbook.
Harvey Mackay is president of Mackay Envelope Corp. and a nationally syndicated columnist.