Define Their Guardrails: Interview with Bill Berman, Author of Influence and Impact

I recently went one on one with Bill Berman, author of Influence and Impact: Discover and Excel at What Your Organization Needs From You The Most.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Bill: I am actually on my fourth career. In college, I worked as a chef and a caterer, which I loved. And I learned about working in a team, because the kitchen I worked in was like a well-oiled machine. I also learned that the hours were horrible, so I left that as a hobby. 

My first full-time career was as a psychologist – treating teenagers and their families, doing research, and teaching graduate students at Fordham University. I loved it, and I learned about helping people work to reach their own potential and remove the mental and emotional obstacles that slow them down. This was true for my patients, and for my students.

While teaching, my partner and I built some software for a research project, and we discovered that healthcare organizations were interested in it. So, we started selling it, and I took the risk of walking away from a tenured faculty position to grow the business. I learned what it means to carry the burden of other peoples’ lives on your shoulders.

After seven years we sold it to a healthcare information system firm, where I ran their professional services team for several years. I learned a lot about profit and loss, about customers and markets, and about leading a large team.

Then in 2004, I left the firm and hired a coach, who helped me discover executive coaching. I started Berman Leadership Development, an executive coaching firm. It is the culmination of everything I learned before – teamwork, helping people excel, growing a business, and leading people. Influence and Impact incorporates all of those learnings, and everything I have learned from my clients and colleagues as well.

Adam: What do you hope readers take away from your new book? How can anyone discover and excel at what their organization needs from them the most?

Bill: There are two basic lessons from Influence and Impact:

First, know who you are – your strengths, what you are passionate about, and what matters to you – what is your purpose. 

Second, know what your job is. Focus on what the organization, including your boss, really needs from you. Ignore what you like and what you are good at and figure out what the organization needs.

If who you are and what your organization needs line up, then you are probably in the right place – focus on delivering what your organization needs from you, and you will earn a “seat at the table.” People will listen to you, and you will have impact. If you and the organization do not mesh, consider finding a different job at the same company, or finding another job that aligns with your purpose.

Adam: A key area of focus of yours has been onboarding. What are your most important tips on the topic? 

Bill: Regardless of your level in the organization, take the time to learn the organizational culture, understand your manager’s needs, and align with your stakeholders. When I sold my software company, I had to learn a very different culture – people’s attitudes toward work, towards how to run a business, and towards customers was very different from mine. It took a while to adapt.

Whether you are an individual contributor or are running a business or a function, collect data before you make decisions. That may mean collecting data before you start, or taking some time to build relationships with peers, stakeholders, and senior managers.

You will make more impactful choices if you understand what you have walked into before you start moving things around.

And stop talking about what you accomplished in your last job. People do it all the time, but no one wants to hear about that after 2-3 weeks.

Adam: What should new leaders do in their first 100 days?

Bill: The answer to that can be found in George Bradt’s earlier book The New Leader’s 100 Day Action Plan. 

In the first 100 days, strong leaders accomplish what would have taken others six to nine months to do. It is all about acceleration. 

Your goal is to work with your team and your stakeholders to formulate your strategic priorities, align your organization to those priorities, and establish a clear operating model so that everyone knows what they should be working on, and what is yours, what is theirs, and what is shared responsibility.

Adam: What are your best tips on how to successfully train new hires?

Bill: Think of onboarding new hires as like merging onto a freeway. 

As you come down the entrance ramp, you should judge where the cars are, find a place where you fit, and join in the right-hand lane (for Americans, anyway). Then figure out what other cars are doing, and how the traffic is moving, and when you understand that – it may take a minute or may take a while – then you can move into the center or left lane and accelerate. 

People have to know where they fit when they join, they have to understand the culture and the way others operate, and then start to move faster to accomplish their (and your) goals. 

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Bill: Great leaders demonstrate three different qualities:

First, they give their people something to believe in. They define the purpose of the work, the “Why” of what they do. This means setting a vision, defining the strategy, and creating plans to deliver on results.

Second, they give their people someone to believe in. They show a strong, stable character with humility, authenticity, integrity, and openness. They show the capacity for self-reflection. They handle stress well and show empathy and responsibility for the people who work for them.

 Third, they give their people someone who believes in them. They are transparent with and respectful of others and consider diverse views and approaches. They empower people to do what they are best at and help them develop to have greater influence and impact.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders? 

Bill: As an entrepreneur, I learned first-hand that you are only successful because you stand on the shoulders of the people who work for you. Take care of them, and they will take care of you and your business.

Second, don’t try to go it alone. Have a “kitchen cabinet” of advisors whose only agenda is to make you successful, and who will have a view on you and your business.

Third, some of the best lessons I learned as a leader came from leading a volunteer organization – a civic organization, a spiritual organization, or a member organization, something where you rely on volunteers. When you lead volunteers, they only follow you because they want to, which means you have to inspire, motivate, and persuade them to join with you in your quest. 

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?

Bill: Maybe that should be my next book – it’s not easy, and it takes time to build a high-performing team. And in many ways it follows the same advice that Influence and Impact gives.

First make sure that everyone knows what the job is to be done. Why are they there, and what is the goal? At the restaurant, our goal was to deliver high-quality meals that delighted our customers. 

Second, create the culture you want to work in. Make sure it is diverse, it is open, and that everyone can speak and be heard. You want your team to be honest, respectful, inclusive, and psychologically safe to disagree, to point out mistakes, and to co-create solutions.

Third, make sure they have the tools and resources needed to do their jobs, define their guardrails, then you should get out of their way and let them do what they are skilled to do.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Bill: Early on in my career as a psychologist, a colleague read me a quote from Goethe: “Treat people as though they are what they ought to be, and help them to become what they are capable of being.” That sums up my purpose. It reflects everything I have done professionally.


Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.

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