Can you be a portable executive?

• Author: Thompson, John A.

"Portable" executives are professionals who are self-sufficient, self-directed and who relate in a dramatically different way to their profession, job and employer than they have in the past. As interim staff members, they see themselves as a business and their skills and experience as their product. They view the employer as a client and, rather than working on the job, they understand their role is to use their "product" to add value to their client's operations, and to manage a situation to achieve specific results.

If you think portability is not for you, think again. In only 20 years, the average length of an executive position has decreased from 25 years to only five years. Interim or project managers have become an important element of the management landscape. Interim financial executives are particularly in demand, especially among Fortune 1000 companies that must implement multiple projects across functions.

This is an era in which you must become solely responsible for your career, your professional choices, your growth and your failure. And your career success will undoubtedly depend on your ability not only to work with contract managers but also to think and operate like one. Here are some pointers on what to do - and what not to do - if you are considering a foray as a portable executive into the world of contract management.

CASE ONE: A CLASH IN OPERATING STYLES

When the CFO of a re-seller of hightech equipment suddenly leaves, the company's CEO engages an interim CFO to backfill the position until a permanent replacement can be found. Only two months into the interim assignment, the CEO becomes unhappy. When interviewing for the assignment, the CFO had said he was action-oriented. This was a critical attribute, because the company the CFO was joining operates on very tight margins that require employees to make good decisions quickly, to take action promptly and not to become mired in financial analysis.

The CEO, however, soon concludes the CFO moves too slowly and exercises his option to replace the financial executive with another interim executive.

Lesson one: Know thyself. In the new world of portability, tolerance for poor performance diminishes. Many executives find they can expect little in the way of on-the-job training, professional grooming and patience on the employer's part to work on and turn around an undesirable situation. In the case above, it was not the CFO's professional skills but his operating style...