Richard Cruz

Rich Cruz

December 2025 - TD Magazine

Capture and preserve institutional know-how before it's too late. 

Plant the Seeds for Knowledge Transfer

“People don’t just show up in the C-suite overnight.” — Amy HoodWhat’s the point of all this growth and development—the crux of our profession—if we don’t do something with it ourselves? It would be difficult to become a strategic leader and stay at the tactical level anyway, so I based the foundational theory of my book Purposeful Leadership Development, in part, on that idea. What is the upper management team (UMT) and how do we get there?Upper Management Team Theory helps explain how the senior management operates strategically within the organization. The senior managers of an organization exist as an “upper echelon,” strategically directing the organization. The departmental model is common. Members of the UMT are heads of their respective technical departments. They are responsible as a group for strategic leadership of the organization, as well as individually for managing their respective departments. Another is the CEO model: One member has the right to dictate to the other members and can undertake strategic decisions unilaterally. The CEO has the final say, even for departmental decisions. Regardless of the models in place, the typical UMT is sustained by adding functional managers rather than general managers, and then turning them into strategic leaders.In his book The Next Level, Scott Eblin does a terrific job explaining the managerial perspectives that leaders need to let go of and the strategic leadership perspectives they need to pick up to be successful. At the personal level, successful strategic leaders develop confidence in their presence, seek regular renewal of their energy (instead of running until crashing), and custom-fit their communications to a wide variety of audiences. On the team level, they become more reliant on their teams (and less on themselves), define outcomes instead of telling employees how to do things, and become accountable for many more results. Finally, at the organizational level, these strategic leaders look left and right (in addition to up and down) as they lead, adopt an outside-in perspective, and develop a “big footprint” view of their roles, rather than the narrower perspective of a manager. In short, they move away from being bureaucrats and toward being business owners. (Even if what they’re running isn’t technically a business!)No matter what your specialty is—marketing, finance, IT, human capital—there is a science to being on the upper management team. There is also a science behind getting there, too. Let’s examine four ways this happens, including one you probably haven’t considered.R.F. Vancil suggested that executives are selected in one of three ways: by horse race (where an opening is identified, candidates are gathered, and one is selected over the others); by relay race (succession planning, where internal candidates for potential openings are identified, prepared, and once the opening is available, selected); and by crisis (an organizational emergency requires a particular candidate or kind of candidate to be found). But there is a fourth.My own research with chief learning officers (CLOs)—the C-suite members responsible for talent development—showed a fourth way: create it yourself. Some study participants created the CLO position for their organizations and then filled it. This had the dual effect of creating a career opportunity for the new CLO and to introduce the practice of the CLO—and its effect on the organization. Nearly half the study’s participants reported creating and filling the CLO position for the first time for their respective organizations. Someone wanting to advance to the upper management team of their business or organization finding few opportunities in senior leadership might decide to create their own.Joining the upper management team of any business or organization means a transformation from being a tactical manager to becoming a strategic leader. It doesn’t happen by accident. But it certainly can happen on purpose.

Upper Management Team Theory—What’s Going on Up There? (And How Do You Get There?)

Most problems leaders face are “technical” ones—simple to complicated with known solutions. This is the crux of management. But then there’s VUCA—Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. And when are things not VUCA? Real strategic leadership is situated in VUCA, with leaders faced with heading into the unknown. It’s during these trying times that having a coach can really help. Coaches are trained professionals, working as partners with their clients toward success. They ask questions, provide frameworks for analyzing situations, challenge assumptions, probe deeply into situations, and much more. Coaches within a leadership development program can reinforce learning, help participants transfer their learning into performance, and help address just about anything else that comes up in the client’s life. Outside of a formal leadership development program, coaches can still partner with their clients as they navigate through challenges and opportunities, especially the ones located in VUCA. Coaches can specialize in many areas, including career coaching, wellness, physical fitness, and yes, leadership. Coaches certified by the International Coaching Federation are highly trained and experienced in helping their clients reach new heights of success. The more uncertain the future is, the more value you’ll get from bringing in coaches to work with your strategic leaders for organizational success. 

Rich Cruz

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