It’s Mariah Season

Now that we’re past Thanksgiving, it’s officially Mariah Carey season (#mariahszn, apparently)

Mariah Carey herself announced the season the day after Halloween in this Tweet.

Her claim, of course, is based on her hegemony of the Christmas music charts, with “All I Want for Christmas is You” as the centerpiece of that dominance.  

I happen to have a love-hate relationship with the entire Christmas music genre. Regardless of when you read this, there’s a 87.3% chance a Christmas music playlist is running in our house right now. And since, in my opinion, there are only 15 good Christmas songs, I quickly reach the point of saturation. While it’s nice to hear the songs once or twice, I’m ready to cut off my ears after the 40th time. 

Regardless, I appreciate how bold it is for Carey to claim ownership over the season. While she once had huge success with the pop dance song, the soulful ballad, and the hip hop remix, she seems to realize, “This is my claim to fame now.” She knows what she’s great at, and she focuses on that.  

General Competencies v. Specific Strengths

Several weeks ago, I talked to a junior executive at a big company who was seeking a coach to help him build the skills he needed for promotion to the next level. I asked, “What’s the basis on which they’re going to hire you for that next role?”

That question turned a light on for him. He’d been thinking about his performance skills through the company’s published leadership competencies, and his focus was on shoring up those areas in which he was weakest. But when thinking about the criteria for promotion, he realized that he wouldn’t be hired based on his lack of weaknesses, but rather on his strengths and their match for the specific roles that were available.  

I’ve seen that pattern many times. At junior levels, feedback, performance ratings, and promotion are typically given based on demonstration of generic competencies. But at senior levels—when everyone is already very competent—decisions about who gets what role are made based on much narrower considerations.  

Wharton faculty members Harbir Singh and Michael Useem make this point in their book The Strategic Leader’s Roadmap. They write:

“Not every strategy can be led by every leader. An array of studies of executive succession and governing boards confirm the importance of ensuring that a manager is a strategic fit for the particular challenges facing the position. Instead of sourcing an executive whose leadership record is generally exemplary, company directors often seek an outstanding executive whose particular experience fits with the specific imperatives of the firm at the moment, similar to how a sports team looks to recruit and sign the best performers at particular positions of need.” 

Beware: Competency Models

This dynamic is also why I’m often not a fan of how many general leadership capability or organizational capability frameworks are applied. When one presents the 360° feedback on a page, we’re often tempted to take it as gospel and to focus on selecting which of our weaknesses to work on. 

These tools are lacking because they don’t explicitly start with a statement like: Based on what you’re trying to accomplish right now, what’s most important? Without that lens, we risk focusing our development effort on areas that won’t matter or risk failing to develop the compelling competencies that will ultimately matter. 

As I usually put it: It’s perfectly fine to be a one- or two-trick pony as long as your trick is valuable and it’s what’s needed at the time.