Stretch

Solving complex problems requires an inquiring mind and the willingness to experiment one’s way to fresh solutions.

—Daniel H. Pink

3 BE OPEN

When he was initially passed over for a promotion to vice president, Chris James was extremely frustrated. The person who got the job came from outside the group, so Chris had to train him to run the business. If that wasn’t enough, a few months later an executive was brought in to replace his new boss, and Chris felt he had to repeat the process. He felt stalled in his career progression.

A Welshman working in the United States, Chris comes across as a younger, more slender version of a butler on an English period drama. His rather formal persona at work belied a wicked sense of humor that he reserved for informal occasions, and his peers rarely got to see the fun side of him.

The new executive heard that Chris had been the real go-to person in the organization, so she gave him a new position reporting directly to her. For the next six months, she and Chris worked closely negotiating a complex, global reorganization, gaining buy-in from other functions, transferring budgets, and redefining the scope of the group. His new boss gave Chris so much feedback during the project that Chris said, “I’ve had more feedback in this six months than in my entire career combined.”

The feedback wasn’t always easy to take. “When you object to an idea immediately, it comes across as not willing to change,” she once told him.

“But I embrace change,” he ...