Adam Bryant conducts interviews of senior-level executives that appear in his “Corner Office” column each week in the SundayBusiness section of The New York Times. Here are a few insights provided during an interview of Sharon Sloane, C.E.O. of Will Interactive. In approaching difficult conversations, she says, “you’ve got to get ‘on the balcony’ — you have to take yourself out of the situation and look at it as if you’re viewing other people playing your role.”
To read the complete interview as well as Bryant’s interviews of other executives, please click here.
Photo credit: Earl Wilson/The New York Times
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What were some early lessons for you?
I was fortunate to have two incredible parents. My mother was probably the kindest, sweetest person to ever walk the earth and devoted her life to helping others. My father was brilliant, kind and warm. His family was very poor, and he lost his mother when he was 8, so he began working at that age, whatever he could do, to support his three younger siblings and put food on the table. He was very much a self-made man, and he became quite successful.
He just had this extraordinarily positive attitude about life. He had many inventions and patents and built successful businesses. So I grew up in this very entrepreneurial setting. Conversations around the kitchen table often included figuring out margins and price points. He also talked about the importance of not depending on anyone else for your livelihood. You want to be the person who signs the paycheck, not the one who’s waiting to see if you’ll get one.
What were your career plans in college?
I studied education, and then got a master’s degree in counseling, which probably has served me better than an M.B.A. The therapist is always in.
Tell me about your leadership style.
One approach, which my father taught me, is what’s called the “platinum rule.” It means, do unto others as they would have you do unto them. It recognizes that not everybody is motivated by the same thing. You can’t necessarily fulfill everyone’s wishes, but it’s crucial to understand what makes them tick.
Given your background in counseling, do you have good techniques for having difficult conversations?
I’ve learned that you’ve got to get “on the balcony” — you have to take yourself out of the situation and look at it as if you’re viewing other people playing your role. You have to be able to walk in someone else’s shoes and really empathize with them. But it’s also just as important to see yourself as others see you. If you can do that, it gives you a 360-degree view, and then you have more understanding. It doesn’t make a hard job easier, but it gives you a framework.
Other insights about leadership?
This isn’t about leadership, per se, but I have noticed a lot more ethical misconduct and loss of integrity among people we do business with. I’ve had to really learn how to deal with that.
You’ve seen it firsthand, I take it.
If I didn’t see certain things with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed they happened — people not living up to contract terms, or misrepresenting their roles or intentions. I hadn’t encountered this until the last few years. I think the economy is part of it. When things get hard, sometimes the worst side of people comes out and they’re looking for a scapegoat or to protect themselves. People I know in all kinds of different businesses are saying the same thing.
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Adam Bryant, deputy national editor of The New York Times, oversees coverage of education issues, military affairs, law, and works with reporters in many of the Times’ domestic bureaus. He also conducts interviews with CEOs and other leaders for Corner Office, a weekly feature in the SundayBusiness section and on nytimes.comthat he started in March 2009. In his book, The Corner Office: Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed, (Times Books), he analyzes the broader lessons that emerge from his interviews with more than 70 leaders. To read an excerpt, please click here.
His more recent book, Quick and Nimble: Lessons from Leading CEOs on How to Create a Culture of Innovation, was also also published by Times Books (January 2014). To contact him, please click here.