Collaboration: How Leaders Avoid the Traps, Build Common Ground, and Reap Big Results

CHAPTER FIVE

Lever 2: Cultivate T-Shaped Management

No Lone Stars, Please

HERE’S A TOUGH DECISION confronting a leader. Paul Nasr, a senior banker at Morgan Stanley, had to decide whether to put his star performer, Rob Parson, up for promotion for the coveted position of managing director. This was a senior role that came with lots of money and prestige, so it was a big deal for both Morgan Stanley and Parson. As described in a best-selling Harvard Business School case by Professor Diane Burton, it’s a hard decision because two criteria clash.¹

On the one hand, Rob Parson was a star producer; over the past two years he had brought in valuable clients and built his product line: “Prior to Parson, the firm had been ranked tenth with a market ...