Be A Leader…As An Intern

“... So can I just be honest with you, please? I'm not going to have a lot for you to do as the truth. And you being assigned to me is kind of just for me to set an example for the rest of the team. If you ask me. I think that you'd be much better off working in creative or marketing.”?

What do you do when you have less than three minutes for an introduction with your new boss for the first time who just have told you that you were really not needed or wanted. That was a quote from a scene in 2015 American comedy drama film “The Intern” by Nancy Meyers, a film starring Robert De Niro as Ben Whittaker, the senior Intern who had retired after forty years as VP for a phone book printing company, and Anne Hathaway as Jules Owston, the CEO of a fast growing e-commerce fashion startup about a fit.?

As an “intern”, Ben obviously does not have much authority, yet it does not mean he can not be an effective leader. In fact, there are some very interesting and comic scenes how Ben slowly wins over co-workers with his thoughtful leadership, gains Jules respect and appreciation, and eventually become a trusted friend, advisor and mentor for Jules.?

If you have just become a new leader, it is likely that you are excited about the opportunity. Yet excitement may or may not always be the emotion for everyone around you. On the one hand, you are somewhat anxious about all the things you have to learn very quickly. On the other hand, you are eager to show the world about your skills and expertise. At the same time, the people you are going to be working with all likely have some pre-conceived notions of who you are and what you should be doing in your new role.

In their book: “You are in charge - now what“, Thomas Neff and James Citrin described that many seeds of destructions for new leaders are sown in the first hundred days. Although the book was more geared for senior executives, the advices are relevant to everyone who just become a new leader. No matter what your profession is and what level you are at, you can expect to experience many career or job transitions, either between companies or within companies. During the sixteen years of my career with ExxonMobil, I had twelve different managers and eight different jobs, often with teams reporting to me. Every job is different and every manager has different expectations. The trend of frequent job change is likely going to be continue.

Leadership principles apply everywhere but there are some unique challenges for new leaders in terms establishment of credibility and alignment of expectations. As a new leader, you often need to “jump off a cliff and building your wings on the way down“. However, the biggest myth about leadership is that they all know the answers. In reality, new leaders need to think big since thinking big is the only way to know your potential. At the same time, you have to act humble and human.

Establish Trust Through Alignment of Expectations

In the movie “The Intern”, while Ben’s expectation is to have the excitement “to have a place to go, feel needed and even challenged”, Jules was simply nudged to fulfill a company obligation, a community outreach program for “senior intern”. She had no expectation for any meaningful contribution for the role. Since Jules is under pressure to cope with the workload having grown from a startup founded in her kitchen to a 220 employee Juggernaut, she did not want the person to take up her precious time.?

At the end of the somewhat awkward two minutes introduction, Ben made sure she understood Jule’s expectation for the rule of engagement when Jule clearly did not want to give him any real work by saying:

“I will email you when I have something for you to do.”?

“Or I can just stop by a few times a day check in.” Ben politely tested with her..

“I will email you.“ Jules reply sternly.?

At the end of the conversation, Ben restated what Jules said “I will wait to hear from you ... I look forward to it”

It is a minor exchange, but illustrates an important point to ensure alignment of expectation. Any time when you are in a new role, there are opportunities for misaligned expectations.?

One should appreciate that different organizations have different ways of doing things and different people have very different expectations of the best way of engagement. I have had managers who sent emails 2 o'clock in the morning and expected replies first thing in the morning. I also had boss who much preferred to knock on my office doors rather than emails. Some expect regular updates while others would completely let you run on your own.

More importantly, it is very important to proactively schedule time with your new manager for a calibration about your job expectation. Do not assume what's on the job description is really your job and do not assume what you were told before your got the role is still the same. Very often, managers may not even know what the job really is and you have to figure out or define what your job which would be a perfect opportunity to demonstrate your leadership if managed appropriately.?

Please read the full article here: Succeed As A New Leader

Leadership Book Update:

I have completed a very rough draft of the book manuscript with about 42000 words and signed a contract with New Degree Press. However, hard work is still ahead and I will be working with an editor on revision. If thing progresses as planned, the book is expected be published in January 2023. Here are a few development to share:

• Working with my developmental editor, we have revised the book title and the current working title is: The Odyssey of Self-Discovery: On Becoming A Leader.
• As part of the publishing process, I will start a pre-sale campaign for the book starting late July. Stay tuned for details. I look forward your continued interests and support!
• I have received amazing support for the ?five minutes leadership survey with over 416 responses which is getting very close to my goal of 500 participants. Here is a breakdown of the survey responses: NA: 49%, AP: 13%, EU:13%, Africa: 6%, the rest from ME and SA. It is truly a global participation and I can not say thank enough to all of you who participated. I will share some of the preliminary results in a future post.
• Let us give another push and hope to get to the 500 mark in a few weeks! I plan to keep the survey active even after the book publication. Please continue your support by sharing the survey with your network.

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