The head of the second unit

Unfortunately, almost as soon as he had attained control of the elusive bottom line, it was taken away from him. The corporation merged his business unit with another and acquired a third organization to absorb both within the parent. The head of the second unit, already executive vice president of Pharmaco, took the reins of the merged firm, leaving Harris once again without operational responsibility.

A little experience is a dangerous thing; by this point, even the way Harris talked about himself changed.

After a taste of running my own unit, I was not interested in running a product line. I wanted my own P&L [profit-and-loss statement]. The merger disrupted my grand plan: to learn to be a general manager in a nice, safe environment, within a corporate support structure, before moving out of the house. That didn’t work out, but it helped me realize that I have the aptitude. I stopped worrying about not having all the skills because I saw I could learn them. I didn’t doubt myself as I had before. Things had gone really well with me at the helm. Just realizing that the powers that be were wrong and I was right about how to restructure the company was a revelation. I learned to trust my intuition.

With his growing confidence, Harris also got serious about looking outside.

I started thinking more about expanding my contacts and my marketable assets. When I took a few minutes to think about outside networking, I realized that I had lost touch with some key individuals. I contacted two of those people and scheduled time to meet. Regarding the marketable assets, I began to think about what has made me successful in my career to date. It’s not the regulatory expertise, which is what I had focused on earlier, but an approach to problem solving that made the regulatory piece work. So I asked myself, “How do you package such an abstract thing?”

Through Georgina James, who by then had left Pharmaco to become a health-care venture capitalist, Harris landed an offer to be the CEO of a Midwest technology start-up. He had no intention of tearing his family away from the Boston area, but it piqued his curiosity. He explored the offer thoroughly before turning it down. He also started going again to professional meetings. At one of those, he met Gerry Evans, the founder of a local healthcare start-up and the inventor of a noncompeting product about which Evans needed regulatory advice. They developed an occasional relationship in which Gerry called on Harris for informal advice. Harris even took advantage of the time he spent at the gym to talk to others about what it’s like to run a small business.

One day Harris took yet another call from Gerry. This time he wasn’t calling for advice. Would Harris be his firm’s COO and eventually assume the presidency?

He had heard about the merger and asked if we could discuss my future. When we met, he nailed me. He said, “I know you are a career Pharmaco person. I know that Alfred Mitchell is your mentor. I know you are seen as a star in the organization, that you are a valuable employee, and that there is a bright future there for you. I also know you have a young family. I know you are somewhat risk averse because of the age of your kids and where you are in your career and what you want to do with your life.”

I was blown away. These were not things I had ever told him. He had done his homework. He had called people who knew me within the industry. It allowed me to be very, very open with him, because he was right. His approach to me was, “I understand where your head is and there is no hurry. You take your time and you tell me what you need and there is no rush, because you are the guy we want. We want you with us running this company and making it a success.”

By this time, I had been approached by a lot of people—by venture capitalists, by placement people—about CEO opportunities. I kept saying no, no, I’m not interested. I’m not really a good fit. I don’t like the technology. I’m not going to live in Ohio. I was at a place in my career where I didn’t have to leave; I could afford to be very picky about the opportunities. But I also started thinking to myself, “If I keep saying no, how many more times will I get asked to dance? When do people stop asking?” The size of the company was right, and the cash position was right. There was stability and the opportunity to be a key player and part of the strategy making about how to make it to the next level. I decided I was going to do it.

Taken From: Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career

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