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S AN DS O F Y EA O, A H AN D-THO S A

ful fortune-tellers med ancient-

oa

, trave ing to t e pa es o Man a-C in a -nd predicting the ture. Whenrinsere right, they were showered withthey

s an praise at a vis b anquets.ric ethey were wrong, they were boiledWhe

alive.king a risk is scary when you focusTaat can go wrong, and exciting whenn wnsider the benefits if all goes well.ou c

rick is to think about risk in thehe way an use it to your a vantage.rig tpeople see taking risks as openingMost

selves up to unnecessary, even dan-them -s, chance. But the truth is, avoiding

gerouont keep you safe, nor will it guar-risk -

th ride.anteeIn fact, the opposite is often true. Its

like the monkey parable: A monkey seesa nut in a hole and reaches in to grab it.

Once hes closed his fist around it, heant get is an bac out o t e narrowpening. He cant free himself unless he

lets go of the nut, but because hes afraidto lose it, he wont let go.

Trying to avoid risk is like clingingto that nut. You may think youre playingit safe by holding on to what you have,but in rea ity youre just in ering your

wn progress.

So how can you make risk work foryou? The first rule: Take risks that are cal-

ulated, not crazy. Theres a big differencebetween rafting in white water with a hel-met and an experienced guide and jump-ing on an inner tube to soar over a waterfall

n a whim. When youre considering tak-

ing a r is , as yourse : How ca n youmaximize your chances of success whileminimizing the potential downside?

About a year into my first job, as asales assistant at Holiday magazine, my

1 2 8 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 7

O

adv

ice,

etc.

Rule 1

Take risks thatare calculated,

not crazy.

Rule 2

The worst-casescenario is

rarely as badas you think.

Black is president of Hearst Magazines, which publishes O, The Oprah Magazine.

boss quit. As soon as I heard she was leav-ing, I wanted her job. I made an appoint-ment with Holidays publisher, a topxecutive whod been in the magazine

business about as long as Id been alive. I

want to ta to you about P y iss job, Itold him. And although I had a grandtotal of one year of experience in advertis-ing sa es, somet ing about my emeanor,and my aggressive pursuit of the job, musthave convinced him I was ready. Okay,he said after a short inter view. Well give

you a chance. Well also bump up your sal-ary $3,000 to reflect your new position.

Success! I was thrilled to be movingupy et t e re wa s a rea y a s tic ingpoint. I knew how much money Phyllishad been making, and it was considerablymore than they were offering me. I couldhave just thanked the publisher and takenhis offer, but I decided to risk asking formore.

I know what Phyllis was earning, Isaid. And I think I ought to be paid the

same salary, as Ill be doing the same workwit t e same responsibi ities.

The publishers face turned the colorf a beet. How dare an inexperienced 24-

year-old ask for a bigger salary just min-utes after getting her first-ever promotion?Didnt I know that moving into a higherposition didnt guarantee Id make thesame sa ary as t e person eaving?

Well, no, I didnt. But even if I hadknown, I probably would have asked fort e raise anyway. T e upsi e was obvious:making more money. The downside was

what? That the publisher would think lessf me, or even rescind the job offer? Per-

haps there was a chance of that, but it wasunlikely. Besides, if I didnt take the riskand ask for a higher salary, there was zero

ance I get it. As ice oc ey egen

Wayne Gretzky once said, You miss 100percent of the shots you never take.

In the end, I didnt get as much moneyas I asked for, but the publisher did in-

rease my salary above what hed initiallyffered. Nothing lost, something gained

it was the ideal outcome for taking a risk.Which brings us to the second rule

for making risk work for you. When as-

sessing t e ownsi e o any ris , remem-ber: The worst-case scenario is rarely asbad as you think.

In 1975, after nearly a decade in NewYork City, I decided to pursue new adven-tures out West. The draw: a San Franciscobased magazine being published by filmdirector Francis Ford Coppola. It was cer-

tain y ris y at t at point in my career toleave New York, the epicenter of the mag-azine and advertising businesses, for theWest Coast. It was ris y to eave Ms.magazine, where I had been the advertis-ing manager for three years and was start-ing to make a name for myself. And it wasrisky to leave my friends and colleaguesfor something unknown, thousands of

miles away. But not only was I ready for a

hange, I fully expected the magazine totake off, and my new life in San Franciscoto continue the same upward career tra-

jectory Id experienced in New York.Wrong.

Within three months of moving toSan Francisco, having hauled all my furni-ture out t ere an signe a years ease onan apartment, I could tell the magazine

was nt goi ng to surv ive. In fact, fivemonths into it, I was so sure the magazine

was collapsing that I resigned and wentn a skiing vacation. Sure enough, while

I was away a colleague called to tell me themagazine a been s ut own, wit on y

a note posted at the entrance telling em-ployees that the last issue had been printedand they didnt have jobs anymore.

Talk about a worst-case scenario. HereI was in California with no job, and no real

job prospects. It would have been easy tosink into frustration at this turn of events.Instead, I started making calls to reestab-lish my contacts in New York and to tell

peop e I was on my way bac . An as ucwould have it, I was able to convince thepublisher of [ c o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 1 3 0 ]


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Ms. to create a position thatwould broaden my responsibili-ties beyond ad sales.

A couple of years later, I had

a conversation wit RupertMurdoch. At the time, Mur-doch owned just a handful ofU.S. me ia properties, t ougnow hes perhaps the worldsbiggest media baron. He

wanted to know about my deci-sion to go to California. Would

you say thats the biggest mis-take you ever made? he asked.

No, I to im. I ont t init was a mistake at all. Murdochlooked at me with surprise. But Ireally didnt think sonot then and notnow. As easy as it would have been to be-rate myself for pursuing a venture thatultimately failed, I still got a lot out of

the experience. I scratched an itch Idhad to move out West and try somethingnew, I ma e some va uab e contacts, anI really enjoyed my six months in SanFrancisco.

So dont handicap yourself by focusingn the aspects of a gamble you took that

didnt work out. Focus instead on whatyou learned from the things that wentwrong, an ow you can use t at now -

dge to your advantage.

HAVE YOU EVER WANTED

to suggest something newat work, only to back downfor fear people wouldthink it was a dumb idea?

Or shied away from offering an opinionr making a decision because you didnt

want to roc t e boat? A t oug t eseare natural reactions, they also show alack of confidence in your own instincts.

Think of it this way: If youre con-vinced your idea is a good oneor at

east, t at it as a ig enougpotential upside to offset therisks involvedwhy would you

xpect others to torpedo it? Believe inyour own instincts, and sell your idea. Ifyou dontwho will?

Of course, you have to sell it like youmean it. When youre speaking to some-

ne, do you ever:

Insert qua i iers, saying, I was won er-ing if we might consider as opposed tosimply, Lets try?

Insert I think unnecessarily? Ivestopped using that phrase altogetherit

nly serves to water down your point.

Downplay your own ideas with phraseslike Im probably way off base here, butr T is mig t be a stupi i ea, but?

Talk in circles, trying to head off objec-tions, rather than putting out your ideasas straightforwardly as possible?

Its easy to fall into language traps,most o ten w en you overt in w at

you wa nt to sayrather than just sayit. Women in par-ticular are prone tousing self-defeatinglanguage. But themore clearly you ex-press your ideas, themore seriously they

wi be ta en, put-ting you a step aheadfrom the get-go.And dont feel theneed to overexplain

yo ur se lfhav e confid en cethat your ideas are valid ontheir merits.

In terms of attitudes abouttheir own abilities, people tend

to it into one o our catego-ries. Theyre good at what theydo, and they know it. Ort eyre goo at w at t ey o,but they dont know it or dontbelieve it. Or theyre not very

good at what they do, and theyknow it. Or theyre not very

good at what they do, but theythink they areor at least

present t emse ves as t oug t ey are.In my experience, more women than

men fall into the second category. Theyregood at what they do, and incr ediblyvaluable to their teams at workbut they

ontinually undervalue themselves. Ofthe four categories, this is not only themost self-defeating, its one of the most

ommon. (And by the way, for what its

worth, far more men than women seemto a into t e ast category, ascen ingthe corporate ladder on chutzpah ratherthan talent.) So dont make the mistake

f undervaluing yourself and your ef-fortsyoull only succeed in blocking

your own progress.

SE V E R A L Y E A RS A F T E R I B E -

came president of Hearst Maga-zines, a Hearst executive walkedinto my o ice wit a comp aint.

Cathie, she said, I justheard theres a meeting this afternoonthat I should be in on, and nobody toldme about it. I dont know why Im beingshut out, but I should definitely havebeen included.

So go to t e meeting, I to er.

Assume it was anver sig ht, and go

take your rightfulplace. She lookedsurprised, but laterin the day she did

just that. And asit turned out, shehadnt been inten-

tiona y exc u eat allit was anhonest mistake.But shed made a

1 3 0 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 7

RHODAB

AER

O

adv

ice,

etc.

Black in 1984,

when she waspresident of

USA Today.

Rule3Dont personalize

things thatarent personal.

Rule 4

Its best in thelong run to make

your life a

grudge-freezone.[continued on page 132]

[ c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1 2 8 ]


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mista e oher own, in forgetting this importantrule: Dont personalize things that arentpersonal.

Offices are kind of like familiesyourethrust into close relationships with people

you might normally have nothing to dowit . An just as wit ami ies, t is pro-

vides all kinds of opportunities for con-flict, whether real or imagined.

Yet in my experi-nce, Ive found

theres actually lessreal personality

onflict than peo-ple imagine. All too

ften, someone

ta es a stray com-ment or missedonnection as a per-

sonal affront, whenit wasnt intended

t at way. An un ortunate y, once a e-gree of fri ction or mistrust has been

stablished, it often grows into a self-fulfilling prophecy, and problems reallydo start to develop.

How do you respond when a groupf people in the office go out for lunch

an youre not invite ? Or w en some-

ne interrupts you at a meeting to shootdown your idea? Or when a colleague

responds to your-mail with a sharpritique, cc-ingthers in your de-

partment?For many peo-

ple, the natural

response in sucsituations is to feelnot only profes-sionally affrontedb u t p e r s o n a l l y

slighted. Sometimes were so at-tached to our own ideas that wecant imagine people having gen-uine objections to them; we as-

sume it must be a personality thing. And

in certain cases it is, o coursebut eresa little secret. No matter whether a con-flict represents a legitimate criticism, apersona ity c as , or somet ing in be-tween, you should always treat it as iftheres no personal component at all.

Making the choice to view conflict inthe office as professional, rather thanpersonal, accomplishes two key things.First, it ensures that you dont acciden-ta y overreact an see a persona com-ponent where there is none. Second, it

ffectively defuses any personality con-flict that might really exist. Think of itthis way: If someone in the office tries toprovoke you personally, what theyre re-a y oing is trying to estab is omi-nance or control over you. By choosingnot to respond on that level, you denyt em t at contro . T eres very itt e up-side to engaging with a colleague in a per-sonal war. Its best in the long run tomake your life a grudge-free zone.

One afternoon atNew York magazine,whose publisher I was in the early 1980s,I found myself irritated with the promo-tions manager. Somet ing s e oneI

dont even remember what it wasset meff, and I went tearing into her office.

I stood in front of her desk, snappingat her, before realizing there was some-

ne else in the office with us, sitting be-hind me on the couch. I turned to findher husband sitting there, a look of shock

n his face. And all of a sudden, I felt in-redibly embarrassed. I must have looked

i e a unatic, racing in an using t attone with hersomething Id never havedone had I known he was there. I tooka deep breath, apologized, and walked

ut of the office.

1 3 2 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 7

PATRICK

DEMARCHELIER

O

adv

ice,

etc.

Hot seat: In 1996

Black took the

top spot at

Hearst Magazines.

Rule

Be generouswith praise

and carefulwith criticism.

[ c o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 1 3 4 ]

c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1 3 0 ]

Rule 6

Know the rules

so you know whichones to break.


5/5

Over the next few days, I thoughtabout my reaction. If I was embarrassedto be caught speaking like that in front

f someone, then why was it okay to do

it w en no one e se was aroun ? Wasntit better to deal with people in ways

you didnt need to hide? Or, more impor-tant, in ways you want to be ea t wit

yourself?Besides, what had

I really expectedto gain? Sure, it felt

good to let off somesteambut this wasa oo s erran . Myultimate goal wasnot, after all, to makeher feel bad or re-

gretful. It wouldnthave helped theteam at all if shetook my criticism personally, whichshe was more likely to do considering

how I delivered it. The ultimate goal,course, was to improve er per or-

mance, so she wouldnt make such mis-takes again. And the more I thoughtabout it, the more I realized there weretwo ways to help do that: Be generous

with praiseand careful with criticism.

HEN I STARTED AT

Hearst, I instituted anannual management con-erencea c ance or ex-

ecutives to get togetherand talk freely about big issues facingthe company and the industry. Because

we wan t people to feel inspi red, in-formed, and energized, we usually holdthe conferences at resort locations. Webring in a variety o spea ers an encour-

age our executives to mix, mingle, andshare ideas.

A few years ago, as we were planningthe event, I wanted to turn up the volt-age. I decided to bring in a speaker who

would knock everybodys socks off, a manlegendary for his speaking skills and per-sonal charisma: Bill Clinton. I knew thathaving Clinton there would get everyone

buzzing, excited about the conferenceand by extension excited about Hearst.Hed bring the wow factor, which em-ployees would carry back to their jobs

when the conference was finished.

T e on y troub e was, Bi C intondoes not come cheap. Because he is one

f the most sought-after public speakersin t e wor , we ave to be rea y to

spend considerablymore on him than

we usually spent onspeakers. I was pre-pared to do that.But I didnt thinkmy boss, VictorGanzi, would be.

So I went aheadand did it anyway,

without asking Vic.Once it was a donedeal, I told him

wed gotten Clinton for the event, and hisresponse was what I expected.

How much did that cost?A ot, I sai wit a smi e. But its

worth it.Now, Vic and I know each other very

well. I have a track record with him, andweve established an essential layer oftrust. The fact is, there are certain bossesIve had over the years who Id never haverespon e to in t at way. But I new t erules, I knew Vic, and most importantIknew which rules I could break with Vic.(Remember t at esson: Know t e ru es,so you know which ones to break.)

After that first inquir y, Vic asked me aouple more times about the cost of hir-

ing Clinton. The final time, he and I weren a plane together. He must have real-

ized there was nowhere I could escape to0,000 eet in t e air, so as we were re-

viewing some mon thly num bers, helooked up and said, Cathie, you know,

you never did tell me how much Bill Clin-tons fee was.

I looked right at him and said, Vic,the truth is, you will never know.

And that, in a nutshell, is one of myfavorite rules of all: Its easier to ask for-

giveness than it is to get permission.

Adapted from Basic Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and inLife), by Cathie Black. Copyright 2007 Cathleen Black. To be published by Crown Business,

a division of Random House. In bookstores October 23.

Rule7

Its easier toask forgivenessthan it is to get

permission.

[ c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1 3 2 ]

how to be star at work

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