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How Managers Become Leaders

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Spotlight on LeadershIp

Spotlight

Artwork Adam Ekberg Country Road, 2005 Ink-jet print

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Michael D. Watkins is a cofounder of Genesis Advisers, a leadership development firm specializing in onboarding and transition acceleration, and a professor at IMD. He is the author of The First 90 Days and Your Next Move (both from Harvard Business Press).

The seven seismic shifts of perspective and responsibility by Michael D. Watkins

How Managers Become Leaders

June 2012 Harvard Business review 65

SPOTLIGHT ON LEADERSHIP

arald (not his real name) is a highpotential leader with 15 years of experience at a leading European chemical company. He started as an assistant product manager in the plastics unit and was quickly transferred to Hong Kong to help set up the unit’s new Asian business center. As sales there soared, he soon won a promotion to sales manager. Three years later he returned to Europe as the marketing and sales director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, overseeing a group of 80 professionals. Continuing his string of successes, he was promoted to vice president of marketing and sales for the polyethylene division, responsible for several lines of products, related services, and a sta of nearly 200. All of Harald’s hard work culminated in his appointment as the head of the company’s plastic resins unit, a business with more than 3,000 employees worldwide. Quite intentionally, the company had assigned him to run a small but thriving business with a strong team. The idea was to give him the opportunity to move beyond managing sales and marketing, get his arms around an entire business, learn what it meant to head up a unit with the help of his moreexperienced team, and take his leadership skills to

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The Seven Seismic Shifts

the next level in a situation free from complicating problems or crises. The setup seemed

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