Wanna be a Leader? Find Your ‘It’ Factor

Written by Mary Welch Monday, December 21 2009

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In Hollywood where everyone is an aspiring star, the ones who make it possess that elusive “it” factor. In business, young women wanting to take the fast lane on the leadership highway need to find that “it” factor that will shine the spotlight on them.

“So many young women starting out on their careers do all the right things and don’t get promoted, and they don’t know why. They do all the blocking and tackling, and someone else gets promoted. They want a formula,” says Reatha Clark, a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Atlanta, who closely mentors the firm’s associates.

“Of course, it’s true of young men but I mostly see it in women. There is this sense of – I don’t want to say entitlement – but expectations that if you do everything right, you still get the goal. They expect that because, even if your high school team took 12th place, you still got a trophy. You don’t get a trophy in business by showing up and doing your job,” Clark says. “You get it by being a ‘plus one.’ You do the work like everyone else, and then you add that ‘plus one’ that distinguishes you.”

Navigating your career, especially early in the game, is difficult and can involve many factors. It can be as easy as a wardrobe fix or as difficult as changing your mind-set – or finding that ‘plus one.’ If being a leader is important, then it is just as important to figure out how to become one.

Clark calls the “it” factor the “plus one.”

“It really involves not only deciding what one’s strengths are but also then marketing them to the company. It comes down to competing. Again, a lot of young women don’t like to compete; they want to be part of a collaborative team. Fine, but someone still has to be a leader. I’ve had women associates say it’s fine if someone leads a committee. Then I ask them if it’s just as fine if someone else gets promoted. That’s why you need the plus one,” she says. “Say you enjoy networking, then your plus one may be business development. It’s finding your strengths, what you’re good at, and making that into something else that no one else has. It’s your way of stepping up.”

Don Hutcheson, CEO of YellowWoods Consultants, an Atlanta-based performance improvement company, says that self-awareness is a key to being a leader.