The risks and rewards of a high profile

I AM always puzzled when I hear employees talk about a colleague who has a ''hidden agenda''. I'm puzzled because most people don't try too hard to conceal their agendas. How could they? When you come down to it, employees basically have four agendas in the workplace. They either want a better title, more money, more power, or a better profile.

The first three - title, money, and power - are easy to comprehend. Profile is trickier to handle.

By profile, I mean a person's visibility inside and outside the company. If an executive concludes a significant deal, does everyone in the company know about it immediately? (That's a high profile internally.) Or does he go about it quietly, immediatelymoving on to the next project? Is he quoted regularly in the media? (That's a high profile externally). Or is he content to remain a powerful force out of the public eye? I think profile is the trickiest agenda because, while most people are pretty clear about the kind of title, money, and power they seek, they're not as decisive about the kind of profile they want, nor do they give much thought to the rewards and consequences it might bring.

As a manager, I don't see anything wrong with having employees with a high profile in the industry or in their specialised area of expertise.

In our company we have many executives who have gained a relatively high profile in their respective areas. It's not surprising. These executives have very high-profile clients and it's natural that some of that visibility will rub off on the client's chief business adviser.

For the most part this is good. A high profile gives an executive credibility and a perception of authority as well as a little glamour. It can give him entree through certain doors that might otherwise be closed. Since high-profile people, by definition, are highly quotable, it also gives us easy access to the media.