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Former executive vice-president of Telus, educator, adviser and author of Be Different or Be Dead.

I had a very bold, audacious goal early in my career – to be the vice-president of marketing before I was 40 years old.

You may not think this was bold, for today there are many CEOs and executives who are much younger, but a few years ago, working for a monopoly telephone company with executive ranks replete with mainly engineering professionals, it was very ambitious.

Marketing was, at that time, thought to be a fluffy discipline compared to the hard, engineering sciences. In fact, many believed that marketing wasn't necessary in a monopoly market.

After all, the company decided what services to provide its subscribers, and the prices to be charged were approved by the regulator. That was it – not much of a role for traditional marketing to play.

Technology was the driving force.

Therefore, the marketing vice-president position was not viewed as one of great strategic value to the organization and was typically filled by one of the engineers.

So my audacious goal was not only a stretch, it was "impossible," given the circumstances of the day.

But that's what I wanted, so I declared it (to myself) without any idea of how to achieve it. I had no plan. I just "put it out in the universe" and went about my duties as group product manager.

I knew, however, that to be successful in achieving my objective, I would have to consciously deviate from what I had been doing in the past.

I had to step up my game if I were to successfully break through the engineering glass ceiling, be noticed and win the prize.

That was my plan. Step up. Step out. Raise my game. Be a force to be reckoned with.

Make my move to vice-president so compelling to the executive leadership team that when the opportunity arose, there would be no logical conclusion other than that I would be the ideal candidate.

The audaciousness of my goal drove the strategy that was necessary. A huge challenge demanded a revolutionary approach. An incremental, more modest approach would not yield the outcome I coveted.

I looked for opportunities to be different. To do things differently than others. I did more of what was required. I did the unexpected. I went in the opposite direction to the thinking and trends of the time.

I voraciously learned what had to be done to help make the move from monopoly telephone company to highly competitive enterprise.

I talked up the moves we had to make in marketing new services that would enable us to stand out from other competitive suppliers, and the moves we had to make in customer service, where we had to lose the tag of a company that treats customers with a monopolist's attitude derived from being the only game in town.

I stuck to my game plan.

The regulatory rules changed and competition arrived.

Marketing and customer service became key components of our competitive strategy.

A new marketing vice-president was required.

I competed against many external candidates.

I won.

I was 39.

My message to young professionals is to declare what you want.

Let the "ridiculousness" of your goal be your guide to achieving it.

Keep it in your consciousness. Do big things.

Do different things.

Executives, educators and human resources experts contribute to the ongoing Leadership Lab series.

Karl Moore sits down with Michele Rigolizzo from the Harvard Business School

Special to Globe and Mail Update

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