My father laid down the law when I was 12. “The right and responsibility of choosing a husband for you is mine,” he told me. “Don’t forget that.”
A second edict came later. I should get an undergraduate degree but never expect to work outside the home. In exchange for my compliance, I would receive comfort and the promise of security.
As an added perk, I would receive immunity from blame if anything went wrong. My father would bear the burden of the two critical decisions of my life: Who to marry and what kind of career to pursue.
Giving control to another, especially someone as benevolent and wise as my father, had appeal. But ultimately I just said no. I forfeited my inheritance in India and crossed an ocean, trading freedom from accountability for freedom to dictate my own course.
To one degree or another, all individuals come to a similar point in their lives.
They must bet on themselves like CEOs, who gather information and act on their own authority. Or they must bet on others, like middle managers who wait for permission before doing anything risky.
Those who step forward into the unknown often rise to senior positions in large organizations. But the leadership principles I teach my executive MBA students apply at any level, starting with individuals who take control of their own lives.
Here are five keys to consider when moving from middle management to the C-suite of your personal enterprise.
1. Create Yourself
People who lead themselves recognize their greatest creation is not a product or service. It is not a painting, poem or musical performance. Their greatest creation is themselves.
“Life isn’t about finding yourself,” playwright George Bernard Shaw writes. “Life is about creating yourself.”
Individuals who accept the challenge study their own aspirations and abilities. Rather than implementing somebody else’s vision, they embrace their fiduciary duty to themselves. They develop a personal mission statement, strategy and plan of action.
2. Recruit Others
Taking the first steps requires courage to stand alone. But individual leaders are not isolationists who shun outside help. They recognize the power of collaboration and recruit others to join them on the journey.
They do this carefully, my research with Sonali Shah and Raj Echambadi shows. Specifically, individual leaders seek allies who offer something different in terms of skills and backgrounds. That’s the power of diversity.
At the same time, they seek alignment in terms of vision, values and purpose. That’s the power of unity.
3. Keep Trying
Sticking with the crowd provides cover if things go wrong. But leaders who govern themselves focus more on what could go right. Instead of hiding from problems, they propose solutions and take risks.
This often triggers backlash from critics who resist change. “If problem solving is the purpose of leadership, then criticism is the price of leadership,” former HP chief executive Carly Fiorina said during a recent visit to the University of Maryland.
Leaders accept the negativity and give themselves permission to be wrong. When things fall apart, they focus on course corrections rather than excuses.
4. Follow Principles
Ultimately, the popularity of any particular choice is not what matters. Individual leaders worry more about the underlying principles involved.
If the crowd adopts principles supported by evidence, then leaders go with the flow. If the crowd says, “Don’t cheat or steal,” for example, then leaders agree.
They don’t discard the wisdom of the ages just to be different. But they are willing to innovate based on sound principles, even when the crowd disagrees.
Research documents the pattern. Disruption that drives upward mobility rarely starts on a global scale. More often, change can be traced to single voices of dissent. Firm, industry and social disruption follows.
5. Set Boundaries
Individual leaders say no to constraints that hold them back. But they are not naysayers. Instead, they set boundaries that make sense for themselves. Then they say yes.
In my own case, I chose a spouse and career in the United States. But I imported many lessons my father taught me during my childhood in India.
As CEO of myself, I took the best of both worlds and blended them in a way that works for me. That’s how executive privilege works.
