Brand Manager
You:
are a brand manager at a company that makes household products.
have 7 year experience.
have an MBA.
are focused on marketing.
might be getting a big promotion this year to department head.
Your company wants:
new innovative products.
New products are a great opportunity for you to grow your reputation in the company.
You partner is:
a new assistant brand manager (ABM).
marked as high potential.
ambitious.
Your ABM found a good opportunity for your company. Some researchers are creating a spray-on laundry detergent that doesn’t need water or a washing machine. The product is not done yet, but has lots of potential. You already persuaded senior management to purchase the spray-on technology.
You are meeting the ABM to:
decide how to structure the team that will do the product launch.
You want:
to maintain control over all new product launches.
You are worried:
the ABM probably wants to be the head of the project.
this would mean a loss of control and influence for you.
it would also set a precedent to other employees (they might expect to be promoted faster too).
Since the ABM has never managed a team of peers before, to expect a promotion now is unrealistic. However, you also remember your own start long ago right after business school and you don’t want to completely stop the ABM’s dreams.
Some options:
If the ABM can control his/her ego a bit, you are open to giving him/her the opportunity to work with you on this project in some higher capacity/role.
You could also give him/her another interesting role.
You would be willing to allow the ABM to help with presenting parts of the project to senior management and at the National Sales meeting.
Or you can give the ABM a more boring role like Finance which would work with his/her strengths, but not provide him/her with the exposure and experience he/she is looking for.
There are various roles on the project team:
Project Head
Market & Competitive Analysis
Finance
Product Design
Advertising Plan
Something else?