Richard Hytner > Quotes

“Anchors are fools with substance, and the truths they dispense, though clothed in comedy, take precedence over amusing antics. They are professional fools, intelligent fools that know exactly what they are doing. Discerning and wise, these fools coax, cajole, instruct and criticise their leaders, transforming their mindsets, anchoring and initiating changes in their behaviour, without fear of retribution.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“Remember that Cs spend years perfecting the art of acting in your best interests. How much time have you devoted to thinking about how to make your C’s job easier?”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“His approach to influencing Farandou was inspired by the maxim of his Canadian ice hockey hero, Wayne Gretzky: ‘Skate to where the puck is going, not to where it was.’ It was Chaiblaine’s reading of how the game might play out that gave him influence with Farandou, who liked him for being clever, analytical and ‘synthétique’, for synthesising options from a sea of information:”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“If your boss is learning and you are not you are soon going to be left behind or out on your ear. Cs are dynamic learners, allergic to stasis of any kind. The Economist understood this perfectly when it ran the advertisement: ‘If your assistant reads The Economist, don’t play too much golf.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“One thing Angelo Dundee had no time for was cotton wool or sugar-coating when he saw his man Sugar Ray Leonard losing his fight with Tommy Hearn: ‘You’re blowin’ it son, you’re blowin’ it!’ was enough to change the course of the fight. If you want to take on the job of cornerman, to be Dundee to your prize fighter, try at all times to describe your contribution as modestly as he does: ‘I just put the reflexes in the proper direction.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“The leadership qualities shared by out-and-out leaders, the As, as well as by their more catalytic counterparts, the Cs, are founded on trust, determined by credibility and confidence. Where trust is the basic requirement, emotional intelligence is the differentiator.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“For many people there is a time to be an A and a time to be a C throughout their career.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“Aristotle described contemplation as the highest form of activity. Your A might not thank you for taking too much time away from the action but as their C you require some contentment and there are no shortcuts to it. There is even less chance of a shortcut to our next vital C state.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“Most of the leaders we readily associate with out-and-out A leadership earned their remit by mastering the C role earlier in their careers. That experience encourages them to surround themselves with the best Cs when they take up the final decision-maker’s mantle.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“In our increasingly always-on world, As must perform. If a stage or a platform is out of reach for a time, the natural A will feel withdrawal symptoms. Popularity is a popular motivation. Being adored and revered can be irresistible, intoxicating, though successful leaders know that congeniality rarely correlates with longevity. What really gets the A going above all is power.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“Even if the status is a guilty pleasure, the A needs his C to look important. How else will he be able to achieve all that he needs to in the A’s service? When the leader declares to those assembled, ‘I’ve brought my No. 2 with me,’ the No. 2 looks just that little bit taller.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“Becoming a C is an opportunity to learn new skills too: how to make things happen without any overt power; how to negotiate, among a diverse group of hotheads, a unified recommendation for the A; how to manage the fall-out from an unpopular decision, and smooth the way for its flawless execution.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“An A’s failure to respond in the appropriate time can leave them horribly exposed. The PA’s job is to know when to intervene and with what intelligence. Fleur, now executive assistant to the chief executive of News International, never allows her boss to get caught on the hop: ‘I’ve got lots of specific alerts set up on my phone, ready for news, and I check my phone like a mad woman, which I shouldn’t do, probably, but I do.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“Trust in leadership has two main parts to it – credibility and confidence.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“It’s a competitive world out there so if you’re not improving your skills, doing qualifications, learning on the job, other people will be.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“If you believe in your A, if you can influence how that leader perceives and deals with challenges, then the chance to be the first follower is a powerful motivating force. You encourage the rest to get behind the best.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“The C can enhance the A’s reputation by ensuring that the A’s ideas are contextualised; the cause is well articulated and embraced; and business is conducted in the tone the A would like.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“Keep a record of your counsel. You may think that your advice was unambiguous and unforgettable, that your spoken word spoke for itself. Yet important conversation is often best followed up with a note: ‘Just to be clear, this is the plan we discussed, this is what we agreed, this is what you’re doing, and this is what I’m doing.’ It will give the A reassurance – or a chance to shape the indicated action – and it will give you the confidence to act on the agreements.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“Good Cs fit snugly into the robes of the devil’s advocate. In the interests of robust debate, Cs will sometimes serve up a deliberately naïve solution, and eat the resulting crow if they have to. The arguments of a C tend to be considered and reasonable but in the face of stiff internal resistance, a grand folly about to be perpetrated, the C may need to be unreasonably stubborn. When candour is called for, when the unspeakable needs to be spoken, the C stands up.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“In Spanish, there’s a saying that it’s better to be the head of a mouse than the tail of a lion.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“More than raw intellect and the ability to structure arguments, cases and proposals, the best Cs have superior contextual intelligence. The ability to discern situations and read patterns of play drives confidence in the A’s final decisions.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“Anthony Simonds-Gooding, my first ever chairman, was a stickler for full and frank exchanges, pulling people up short the second he detected the scent of deceit. ‘To be quite honest with you’, they would begin, before he pounced on them: ‘There are no degrees of honesty, you either are honest or you are not, so I’m afraid “quite honest” just won’t do it.’ Just as there are no degrees of honesty, there are no shortcuts to courage. As the C gains more influence, he will need more of it.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“Those who rely on their spouses to keep them in check, to hold mirrors up to their excesses, to act as sane sounding boards, tend, in my research, to enjoy a more profound sense of well-being.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“Friends in high places are understandably treated with suspicion, particularly when they are appointed without the kind of qualifications or life experiences we would expect.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“Often themselves outstanding golfers, caddies lighten the load by feeding their As information on how the course works, estimating the yardage of each hole, suggesting the club they might choose and advising on the direction and speed of the wind. More importantly, say the best golfers, a caddie imparts calm, confidence and focus. They contribute to the certainty of their A’s decision-making. In some cases, the club lugger may prove to be the decisive factor, the difference between winner and runner-up.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“Situational awareness and contextual intelligence will help Cs get intimate with their organisation’s resources. Knowing how to put them to best use is an act of creativity, the next step for the catalytic C, as they manage talent to facilitate thinking. Knowing the people in your organisation, matching them to task, unleashing their capabilities, and making random connections between them, all help create fresh ideas and alternative options.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“for some the most joyous C motivation of all, is the opportunity, indeed the requirement, for learning through new experience.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“Smart Cs are never too senior or too important to act as Lodestones to their As. The Lodestone takes jobs off the A’s plate, frees them from the bland fodder of management and releases them from whatever ties them to the table of everyday leadership. When we think of the great organisational freedom fighters we think of our assistants–personal, executive and managerial.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“I have identified four things that the ideal C should be: content, constant, catalytic and courageous.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best

“Sailors on a ship were always ashamed if their captain brought the ship in badly. They had pride in their boss.”
― Richard Hytner, Consiglieri - Leading from the Shadows: Why Coming Top Is Sometimes Second Best