Leadership

The Power of Goal Setting

By Robert Gerrish

Updated on: October 5, 2009 / 7:29 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

I was recently invited by Phil Taylor of Goal Achievers International to join his LinkedIn network. At 65 I have achieved most of what I have wanted in life but as I skimmed his website, much of what he said resonated with me particularly about the importance of writing down your goals.

My introduction to formal goal setting was in 1979. I was a general manager of a division in an Australian multinational (suffering I admit from a midâ€"life crisis) and a young graduate I had hired suggested that I should consider a career as an investment banker. As I was 35 I dismissed the idea as impossible but then in a moment of serendipity came across a book by Robert J. Traxel, The Manager's Guide to Successful Job Hunting, in a management library. Two quotes from the book leapt out:

"If you think you are in a rut, remember a rut is a grave with the ends kicked out. The best way to get out of a rut is to change careers."
"If you want to change careers forget going to a head hunter. All they are interested in is commission, and all they do is see you as piece of fast moving stock. They will convince you to stay in the same industry and switch jobs. I know --- I am a head hunter."

Instead, Traxel laid down a plan in his book that I followed assiduously.

Step 1. Goal Setting Write down of piece of paper a date nine months away which says on that day I will choose between two job offers in a new industry, stick it on the bathroom mirror and read it every day.

Step 2. Discover who you are Go to 10 people who know you well and ask them frankly to tell you what they think is your biggest strength and biggest weakness. The answers are quite revealing and unlike the vast majority of 360 feedback sessions you may this time get some truth. This is a good first step to developing EQ.

Step 3. Work out whether you can do the job The simplest way doing this now is to go a reputable organisational psychologist do the battery of intelligence and personality tests and then ask them to assess whether you are suitable for the industry and position you are seeking. For example unless you have a numerical IQ in the top 5 percent there is no point seeking a position as an actuary.

Step 4. Carry out the preliminary interviews Meet with the CEOs of the top 20 companies in the industry you have targeted. My telephone cold call went like this.

"I need your help. I am a graduate of the London Business School and currently a divisional general manager with.... A graduate I recently hired suggested that I consider a career as an investment banker. Could I have 20 minutes of your time to discuss whether this is a good idea?"

No one turned me down. At the start of the interview, after thanking them for the meeting, you say you are carrying out a survey of 20 leaders in the industry and ask two key questions:

You are obviously a success in your industry, what are the three reasons you think you succeeded?
Of all the industry players who are the three you most respect?

For most people, especially CEOs, their favourite topic is themselves so the answer to the first question generally took an hour.

What absolutely critical is not to talk about yourself. When the conversation inevitably turns to the CEO saying to you to describe who you are, you politely say that you have not made the decision to join the industry and that will only come when you complete the survey. Instead you thank them for their time and walk out. Traxel says that if you do that they will never forget you. However if you accept the offer to describe yourself you will lose authenticity. My own personal experience totally vindicated Traxel's argument. The one interview where I broke this rule turned into a disaster.

All the other CEOs who I met subsequently at industry functions all came rushing up to me saying how they never forgot that interview, worked out what I was doing, and all said "You know if I was going to switch careers I would use your approach."

Step 5. Draw up your product profile You now have a list of the strengths you need to be successful. You then write a letter along the following lines:

I have completed my survey. I have concluded that there are seven characteristics you need to be a successful investment banker and list the seven. (In passing never have more than seven items in a list, the limit of short term memory). Then you conclude your letter by saying that if you look at my enclosed CV by some amazing coincidence I appear to have all seven!

Step 6. Send off the letters and start the interviews You also know from your survey who the four heavy hitters in the industry are. You send off the letters to the CEOs marked private and confidential. I got three replies asking to meet me. (By now it was six months since I had started the process but I was still reading the message on the mirror every day.) I later discovered the other CEO had become seriously ill and the letter was unopened for two months.

Step 7. Accept the position On the day I had set nine months earlier I accepted my new position. Never again did I question the power of writing down your goals.