Playing the CEO Game

Electronic News, Oct 2, 2000 by Marie Eve Demers

True leadership calls for better human interaction, complex thinking

Jennifer Hamilton, chief executive officer of RosettaNet, is a women of strategy.

"In my career, I have gone from playing checkers to playing chess. Checkers is a very simple game, right? You play hard, smart, you do what you are supposed to do and win," she said. "But leadership is much more complex, there is a lot of human interaction involved. You have to give something up in order to get something in return. You have to think several steps ahead to figure out the best path. When I realized that I needed to be much more complex in my thinking and my approach to solving business problems, it was a real turning point for me."

Since taking the helm of RosettaNet consortium in February, Hamilton has moved a lot of pieces around the chessboard. RosettaNet had already emerged as the framework around which many Internet-based supply chain initiatives have been based, attracting support from an array of companies in the computer, semiconductor, electronic distribution and test and measurement businesses. In her time at the helm, Hamilton has formed a new management team at RosettaNet, developed an improved PIP (Partner Interface Processes) assembly line and PIP life-cycle methodology, and led the globalization of the consortium.

Hamilton's father, who was in business, was her role model. He would take her to meetings. So, from a very young age, she never thought it was unusual to be the only woman around.

"Throughout my career, I have never really thought much about the female aspect of things. I have always thought of myself as a strong business leader and executive and managed my career accordingly," she said. She came out of business school with a degree in business management and marketing in the technology field. Often, her peers had engineering backgrounds. "Though we had similar positions, and often similar education, it was always an assumption that the men have greater technical aptitudes than the women. If I had seen that coming, I probably would have gotten a degree in engineering first and one in business after."

However, as more value has been put on business strategy in recent years, it became less of an issue. "What started out to be a slight disadvantage has turned out to be a great advantage over the last 15 years."

For the executive, equally good leaders can come from both genders. However, she sees a lack of candidates on the female side. "It is only over the last 10 years that we have started to see more woman leaders, especially in the technology field."

What makes a good leader? "A good leader has vision, vision for where things need to go, ability to motivate people."

Hamilton cited the author Debra A. Benton, who wrote the book called How to Think Like a CEO: The 22 Vital Traits You Need to Be the Person at the Top. In the book, Benton explains that a good leader needs to be able to demonstrate a trait at the time that it is required. For example, being able to have humor at times, but be serious at others, being tenacious, but able to give up in certain circumstances. "What I really needed to focus on is how to lead and become somebody that people want to be led by. It is less about what you know, and more about your vision and what it takes to take people there with you."

Throughout her career, Hamilton has mentored young people. "When I mentored women, I encountered behaviors that I believe were not helping them. For example, if you have a room full of people -- mostly men -- who don't know each other, it is not unusual for a woman to go find the other women in the room. That behavior can give people the impression that they do not feel secure. In that type of situation, they should set the goal to talk to at least five men before they speak with a woman, just to push them not to automatically go for the comfort zone."