Leaders Find the Right Niche

Man standing before an audience

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When Rick walked into my office, he felt rudderless. “I’m 40 years old,” he said, “and I’ve run out of possibilities.”

Rick had to fall back on his own resources. So, I said, “Look, let’s figure out what resources you can draw on—yourself, if nothing else.” We never start from zero. We have personal experience that can help us to pick up again after a dry spell. If we have ever succeeded at anything, we can do it again, even if we’ve racked up failures in between.

Rick’s case would be a prime example.

In his 20s and early 30s, Rick had been hugely successful. He’d spent ten years in France developing an educational technology platform that helped companies train personnel. He’d been a leader, until his financial backers sold out to a conglomerate.

All at once, Rick had no job.

“You know,” he told me, “I was somebody and then I was nobody.” He returned to the U.S. with his family and wondered what he could do. Since he understood tech, he tried working for a small start-up. But its culture was fiercely competitive, and he quit. The transition only got worse when he was hired to a middle-management position by an established company. “I guess I still thought of myself as able to run things. I could, but they wouldn’t let me.” So, he quit again.

But Rick had been a leader in an important field, and I was sure that with effort, he could do it again. “You just need to apply your experience in the right context.” Often, we feel cut off from our best selves—from the sources of our self-confidence and feelings of self-worth—because we are not in a situation that allows us to flourish. The trick, therefore, is to find that situation.

So, I asked Rick what he would like to do. “Maybe something in education,” he said. He had created an educational platform. His younger son had developmental issues, and Rick had studied the options for kids with special needs. “I actually think the schools are doing a great job and that I could bring some high-tech expertise to the effort.” Good start.

Rick did not want to be a teacher, but he thought that community service might give him space to create opportunities for kids after school.

This was Rick’s experience talking.

He went to the local community center and pitched the idea of developing a basketball team for kids with special needs. It would introduce them to technology, since they could analyze games using video-playback and learn to map out strategies. “I told the center’s director that this would help the kids learn hard stuff in a stress-free environment.”

The pitch worked. Rick was now a basketball coach. He was leading a team.

But for someone who once founded a company, this was not the leadership position that he wanted. So, I asked him, “What in your experience can you draw on that could kick this position into higher gear? I was asking Rick to make the most of where he was, to figure out how to leverage what he had learned in one context (where he was a leader) so that he could acquire some of that same stature again.

Rick told me that the personnel training platform he had developed was high on intra-office communication. This was an important perception, since Rick had noticed how the kids on his basketball team were often inhibited, not volunteering their ideas unless he specifically asked for them. So, I suggested that effective communication, in whatever setting, may not come naturally —and that here was Rick’s natural opening.

Calling on all his experience, Rick set up a program to help kids at local schools become more effective communicators. He brought in speech teachers and debate coaches. The center provided the space, and Rick charged tuition to cover costs and pay him a modest stipend.

In no time, the program was swamped with applicants. Rick set up satellite programs in other local venues, and more teachers and coaches asked to join the faculty. Suddenly, Rick was leading a major initiative, getting kids to be confident on their feet. Teachers in the kids’ regular classes reported that they saw a remarkable improvement in communications skills, as well as in overall confidence.

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By the time the pandemic hit, he was managing over twenty venues, and educators from other towns were studying his methods. He was earning a decent salary, and felt that (once again!) he was both innovative and a leader. The pandemic, of course, was a shock and, for two years, everything stopped. But now, Rick has big ideas. He is taking his initiative public, even thinking of franchising. He has obtained serious financing. “This could be the next Mathnasium, real tutoring for the masses.”

In achieving his current position, Rick did not rely on anyone else so much as he drew on his own experience. It gave him the confidence to plow ahead. For Rick, determination was the natural extension of who he knew he was. Once he got in touch with that, there was no stopping him.

So, here are some ideas to think about:

• To emulate Rick’s type of progress, I should search my background to determine what features I can leverage.
• I can develop self-confidence by meeting a need that remains to be met.
• Ultimately, I should not view determination as pure grit but as some combination of grit, market awareness, and the ability to imagine a future based on what I’ve already accomplished.
• Accordingly, I should not just mine my resume but collect market intelligence.
• I should put together a business plan that will attract buyers—or, at least, learn how—and then determine my capacity to pull it off (no business plan is worth much if we cannot find the personnel and capital resources to pull it off).

Rick has many traits of a natural entrepreneur—not least, a grasp of what people need and how he can provide it. You do not have to be such a natural, but you do need a good idea of what constitutes a good idea. The more it is based on concrete experience—which you can rely on, which you can sell—the better.