The story of a X Man

I came across a company headed by a very dynamic CEO. He could read trends. He was creative, talented, capable, and brilliant—and everyone knew it. But he had a very dictatorial style of management.

 His manner of speaking to those who worked in the organization was, Do this now ! I know this is right get on with it . As time goes by he alienated almost the entire team surrounding him.

Whenever they are opportunities they would gather and complain to each other about him.

He is this and he is that , he just turned down all my hardwork and research and bla bla bla , never ending. As things gotten worst they were awaiting for his departure from the company .

But one of the executives was proactive. He was driven by values, not feelings. He took the initiative—he anticipated, he empathized, he read the situation. He started to read the CEO was weak in his style, and he’d work with the CEO’s strengths—his vision, talent, creativity. This man focused on his Circle of Influence. But he would do more than what was expected. He anticipated the CEO’s need. He read with empathy the CEO’s underlying concern, so when he presented information, he also gave his analysis and his recommendations based on that analysis.

 As I sat one day with the CEO, he said, “SG, I just can’t believe what this man has done. He’s not only given me the information I requested, but he’s provided additional information that’s exactly what we needed. He even gave me his analysis of it in terms of my deepest concerns, and a list of his recommendations. “The recommendations are consistent with the analysis, and the analysis is consistent with the data. In the important meetings only to this man the CEO would say, “What’s your opinion?”. This caused quite a stir in the organization. The reactive minds in the executive short meetings began shooting their vindictive ammunition at this proactive man.

But this man was proactive towards them, too. He was very consistent on his proactive moves little by little reached the others too . It continued to expand to the extent that eventually no one made any significant moves in the organization without that man’s involvement and approval, including the CEO. The CEO did not feel threatened because this man’s strength complemented his strength and compensated for his weaknesses. So he had the strength of two people, a complementary team. This man gained his X factor in the leadership by simply being proactive .

 There are some people who interpret “proactive” to mean pushy, aggressive, or insensitive; but that isn’t the case at all. Proactive people aren’t pushy. They’re smart, they’re value driven, they read reality, and they know what’s needed.