SEPTEMBER 07

“You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things— to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals.”

—Sir Edmund Hillary, first climber to summit Mt. Everest

BE THE MOTIVATOR

We all have stars in our organizations and we count on them to achieve. But the fact is that our “B” players can also have great impact—if they are motivated.

In a USA Today article, here is what writer Del Jones has to say about the role of “B” players: “The importance of B players may be only now dawning on the experts, but it’s one of those common-sense discoveries that many garden-variety workers have subscribed to all along. The backbone of every company is in the middle where the ether of great thoughts is hammered into reality.”

Every boss knows the frustration of seeing great ideas fall through the cracks. In their best-selling business book, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, coauthors Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan argue that the biggest obstacle to success is not a lack of grand vision, but turning a little vision into some product, service or useful innovation.

“B players are crucial,” says Bossidy, retired CEO of Honeywell. “They may get directions from others, but they’re the ones who execute.”