OR/MS Today - February 1999

February 1999

Planning to Succeed

By Douglas A. Samuelson

Well, the OR/MS analyst thought to herself, she had finally gone and done it. After years of urging by colleagues, bosses, a few friends, and, yes, even a columnist for OR/MS Today, she had signed up for an organization whose focus was public speaking. So here she was, surrounded by salespeople and motivational speakers, cheering each other enthusiastically for speeches that seemed, to her, nearly totally lacking in serious content. Nobody, she reflected sourly, got this sort of applause at INFORMS meetings, no matter how good their talks were.

The day's third "warm-up" speaker, an officer of the organization, was chirping merrily about how, as a corporate executive, he had planned his career and then carried out his plans — "and you can do the same!" He had set out to be a vice president in 10 years, and he had identified what accomplishments he needed and plotted some milestones, and — sure enough — it took him 10 years and three months, as it turned out, to get the vice presidency he wanted.

Despite his warm and friendly demeanor, she had taken an instant dislike to him, as his nicely tailored suit, perfectly cut hair and smooth style reminded her of every semi-competent "empty suit" boss she had ever had trouble with. His unruffled assurance that good plans generally work irritated her still more: from hard experience, she knew better!

She kept thinking about his speech during the coffee break that followed. Be reasonable, she told herself. Put your emotional reactions and associations with other people aside. What can you criticize about what he actually said?

After a few minutes, she had identified the question clearly. She walked up to the former executive, introduced herself politely, and then said, "I mostly liked your speech, but there was one thing about what you said that left me with a question. I think maybe you left out something important."

"Please tell me what you think," the executive replied promptly, with just the sort of smile she had seen from executives she had worked for — the sort of smile that always left her wondering whether offering her opinion would be helpful or suicidal. Well, this one can't harm me, she reminded herself. Here goes.

"You said good plans get good results," she began, "but you didn't say much about what a good plan is. If Step 3 of your plan is to win the lottery, you're unlikely to succeed, wouldn't you think?"

The executive nodded. "Of course," he agreed.

"But how do you know whether you've got a step like that in your plan?" she persisted. "Take your example, for instance. There were probably a dozen other people who set the same goal, around the same time you did, and maybe four or five of you were all serious candidates for that vice president job when it came open. One of you — you, I gather — got the job, and the others, who were nearly as well qualified, got passed over.

"But their plans, and yours, all prepared them for other jobs like that one. That's the difference. If you spent 10 years buying lottery tickets and didn't win, you'd just be out the money you spent with nothing to show for it. But you and your competitors had all taken finance classes, learned different parts of the business, made contacts, developed your skills — whatever you thought you needed to be qualified to be executives. And I'll bet the ones who weren't chosen didn't have too much trouble finding comparable jobs elsewhere. Right?"

"Very good," the executive acknowledged with a different sort of smile — she wasn't sure whether he looked amused, maybe a bit sheepish, or slightly conspiratorial. She didn't have to wonder long, as he continued, "Actually, what you described is what really happened to me. I was one of the ones who got passed over for the job I'd set my sights on. But, sure enough, as you said, it didn't take me long to find another job like that one in another company. I suppose I oversimplified the story a bit, didn't I?"

The laugh they shared at this point was genuine and heartfelt.

"Thanks for your comments," he added. "I'll have to think about how to work in those points, but they're definitely good. You must be some sort of analyst — and a good one, I'd say. What are you planning to speak about?"

"I haven't quite decided," she replied. "Something analytical, I suppose. As you guessed, that's what I do. But I see I'll have to do a lot of work to make it successful with non-technical audiences."

"Recognizing that is half the battle," the former executive reassured her. "At least you've taken the step of coming to a group like this. Now — whether you realize it yet or not — you're planning to learn what these people know about how to appeal to a broader audience than just your colleagues, and you've made the commitment to develop some skills you didn't know you had. I'll bet you'll be good at it, if you keep at it. Remember, everyone here — including this big-name, nationally known professional speaker we're about to hear next — had to start just about where you are; or, worse, where I was, with no technical knowledge and credentials to give me instant credibility and self-confidence."

I hadn't thought about that, she mused. "Thanks for the encouragement," she smiled. And for the motivational push, she added silently. You did that well.

"We're here as much to encourage each other as anything else," he told her. "I guess I should have mentioned, too, that part of your plan should be to surround yourself with other people who share your goal and will keep urging you toward it. That steady stream of positive messages makes it much easier."

Doug Samuelson is Principal Scientist at PUMA Systems, Inc.

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