Turn Theory Into Practice, Have An Eye For Detail, And Communicate Well For More Business Success
After considering the phenomenal popularity of the U.S
. television series based on a high school choir, Glee, I found myself wondering if the next hit show might not be called Band. I mention the possibility somewhat facetiously because both activities were considered beneath notice by all the "cool" types when I was in high school. To quote the title of Bob Dylan's third studio album, "The Times They Are a-Changin'".Despite the risk of being considered socially "uncool," I was excited to join my high school's band as a sophomore. I loved marching in parades, I didn't mind wearing a goofy-looking uniform, and I found it exhilarating to play John Philip Sousa's marches.
My experience with band was much different than I had expected. My clarinet sounded permanently flat, my band instructor was annoyed by my inability to get into tune, and there weren't enough uniforms for everyone. Guess who wasn't going to be wearing a uniform and playing at the football (American variety, not soccer) games.
Nevertheless, I persevered. The instructor had an extra tuba he wanted someone to carry so the band could make a bigger impression. I volunteered for the heavy lifting.
I feared for my grade. I couldn't play the tuba, I didn't march very well, and I flunked the opportunity to play the bass drum.
Fortune smiled on me when the instructor decided band members had to sell enough candy so he could buy an air conditioner for the stifling hot band room where we practiced. I sold more candy than anyone else (120 boxes), my parents bought me an expensive clarinet that wasn't quite as flat, and a good grade was received that reflected my effort a lot more than my musicianship.
While I developed a new skill in selling candy, I noticed that most of my fellow students didn't learn anything except how to follow orders. For those who intended to join the U.S. Army and play in one of their bands, this was good experience. For everyone else, there wasn't much useful learning.
There was one exception: the drum major. Being chosen was mostly a function of learning how to twirl a baton well and being able to strut with the best of them. I can still remember how well our drum major did both. He was terrific!
Because the drum major had to do a lot of extra work practicing his twirling and strutting, the band instructor also wanted to encourage him. To do so, the instructor granted the drum major some extra leeway. The drum major could also design some of the marching routines for our half-time shows for the school's football games.
As a result, the drum major learned a lot about organizing and leading people, while also honing his performance skills. It was a great experience for him. The rest of us might as well have been just so many cogs in a machine.
This experience prepared me for big businesses, most of which operate in the same way: One or two people are allowed to do some creative work, lead others, and receive a lot of attention. The rest of the people march along trying to match the leader's directions and beat.
Volunteering to carry the tuba and selling candy aren't going to get you ahead in the typical large company. How can you escape beyond being a cog in the organizational machine, even if your title says you are an executive or a manager?
Let me suggest three key ways to do so:
1. Learn to turn theory into practice so you can accomplish more.
2. Develop an eye for detail so that mistakes are avoided.
3. Communicate better so that people understand what you are doing, what you want, and what they should be doing.
To demonstrate why these lessons are important, let me tell you a little about the career of Mr. Christopher Keeping, an MBA graduate of Rushmore University.
As a youngster, he enjoyed the opportunity to study at many of his native South Africa's finest schools where he was introduced to a lot of theory. After high school, he was called up for the South African Navy for required military service and deferred starting university studies. For the six months remaining before his naval service was to begin, he worked at his father's printing company and discovered he liked it.
During his national service he was selected for officer training where he gained important life lessons with regards leadership and making decisions that would have a direct impact on his life and the lives of others around him.
After completed his national service, Mr. Keeping opted to enter a printing apprenticeship program, studied related subjects part-time, and later qualified as a printer's toolmaker after three years of technical college. He found it refreshing to be able to do something practical rather than just learning more theory.
However, he continued to learn theory, this time gaining knowledge about management leadership based on one-year programs at three different colleges and universities. By applying the theories, he soon rose to become the printing company's technical director. After succeeding in that role, he was chosen to be the managing director who led the enterprise, and the company grew rapidly.
When Mr. Keeping's mother passed away, he decided it was time to shift careers, and he took on a job as an account director for the largest advertising agency in South Africa. Within two years, he was approached by Vodacom, a leading mobile communications provider in South Africa, to work as a business manager in the commercial department. Within 12 months of joining Vodacom, he was heading up the Inland Region of the company's sales operations.
Having discovered how flexible his skills were, he next joined Primedia Sport, a sports sponsorship agency, as sales and marketing director. He enjoyed the sports connection, especially to rugby, but he missed the intellectual excitement of advertising and the technology challenges of telecommunications.
When well-respected Leo Burnett, one of the world's most highly admired advertising agencies, invited Mr. Keeping to lead the Coca-Cola account in nine countries and to establish a telecommunications unit to obtain clients in that industry, he couldn't resist the opportunity.
Bigger challenges were ahead. Another telecommunications carrier invited him to lead its new mobile operations in Tanzania, setting up everything from scratch. Despite being the fifth entrant, his firm quickly became number one in the business market and number two overall.
That success led to being selected to work with the fixed-line telecommunications carrier owned by the parent company, an acquired state-owned enterprise that needed a total operational and marketing revamping.
On his return to South Africa he joined Virgin Mobile, the South African division of the Virgin Group, to do the start up of the operation as the sales and distribution director.
From this position he did another stint at a start-up business in Tanzania and then moved on from this to Namibia where he was appointed chief commercial officer at the country's second mobile operator.
With this kind of track record of accomplishment in so many different roles, many people would assume that Mr. Keeping's career would just continue blossoming as he moved from one bigger challenge after another. And that might well have occurred.
But he wanted to do even better. He decided that it was a good time to earn an MBA degree to add more theoretical marketing knowledge that he could apply to work assignments.
Mr. Keeping was just as good at being a mid-career student as he was at being a business leader. As a result, his learning progress accelerated. Here's what he had to say about the MBA experience:
"The biggest learning I have had is about me. I now appreciate that you are never too old to learn and that the only constant in life is continual change."
Even with all this educational experience in gaining theoretical knowledge, he's committed to lifelong learning . . . an important element of any business leader's ability to perform well.
As you can see from his experiences, Mr. Keeping's education has always been quickly connected to practical application in his work, an important legacy from his successful apprenticeship. Seeking to learn and apply the new knowledge requires the learner to remain humble, looking to create solutions rather than merely to gain prestige.
Let's consider the importance of having an eye to detail in light of his career. In any technical, marketing, or sales role, each mistake can cause harm many times greater than the benefits of most correct decisions. He would not have been able to jump from one field and industry to another so rapidly and successfully without keeping an eagle eye on what could go wrong and avoiding the most damaging potential mistakes.
Finally, Mr. Keeping discovered that you have to be clear in verbal as well as written communications. To do so, you have to learn and correctly use the vocabulary of those who are looking to you for direction. You also have to understand their perspectives. Getting to know how hearers and readers think requires continual learning about each person you work with. It's a worthy and never-ending challenge.
Are you ready to incorporate those three lessons into your business career?
Here's one final bit of advice from Mr. Keeping about learning:
"Assume nothing. Instead, find out the truth for yourself. Read everything you can get your hands on. The business world is the 'real' world. It's dog-eat-dog out here, so getting good grades while learning should be only part of your goal.
"Consider your MBA to be the 'right' to manage others, and you'll only have one chance to prove that you can do it correctly --- exactly as it is with folks who don't have MBAs. The difference is that, with an MBA, you can speak the language of an administrator, you can write understandable business papers, and you can better serve your employer or client."
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