Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 824, Grooming a Successor.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 824.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
This episode is a dialogue about getting someone ready to become the leader of a company or of an organization.
Let's get started.
That won't happen for years.
It'll happen sooner than you think.
I've given a lot of thought to the person I want to fill my shoes.
After long consideration, I think that person should be you.
Me?
But there are a lot of people who outrank me in this organization and who have more experience.
That may be true, but I've decided to make you my protege.
I'm taking you under my wing starting now to groom as my successor.
I don't know what to say.
I'm honored, of course, but aren't you going to meet with a lot of resistance by choosing me instead of someone more senior?
I might, but I have confidence in you.
With a little time, you'll come into your own and you'll make a fine leader for this organization.
All I can say is thank you for having faith in me.
The opportunity is yours and it's up to you what you make of it.
I know that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
I won't let you down.
I'm counting on that.
Aisha begins our dialogue by saying it's only a matter of time before I retire and hand over the reins to someone else.
The expression it's only a matter of time is used to describe something that will definitely happen in the future, but you don't know exactly when.
But it will happen.
It's only a matter of time before Miss Universe calls me and asks me for some personal English lessons.
It's only a matter of time.
It will happen.
I just don't know when.
Aisha says it's only a matter of time before she retires.
To retire R-E-T-I-R-E means to stop working, basically to stop working for the rest of your life.
So when you are 65 or 70, you often at least in the united states at those ages will retire.
You will quit your job and you will no longer work full time.
At least that's the way it traditionally has been.
We'll see what happens in the future, depending on our economy.
Aisha is planning on retiring and when she does she will hand over the reins R-E-I-N-S.
To hand over something is a phrasal verb meaning to give something to someone else.
The reins...
REINS, not RAINS, is what you use to control a horse.
They're the little ropes that you hold on to, that you use to control a horse to turn it from one side to the other.
Here, it means the control of something.
So Aisha will hand over control of the organization or the company to someone else.
Javier says that won't happen for years.
You won't be retiring for many years, he says.
Aisha, however, has different ideas.
She says, it will happen sooner than you think.
She actually says, it'll happen.
It'll being a contraction for it will.
It will happen sooner than you think, sooner than you might imagine.
She says I've given a lot of thought, meaning I've thought about something a lot.
I've given a lot of thought to the person I want to fill my shoes.
To fill someone's shoes means to perform the same duties and the same activities as another person normally does.
So when someone leaves as president, the next person becomes president, fills his or her shoes.
He does or she does what that other person used to do.
Aisha says after long consideration, meaning after thinking about it very carefully for a long time, I think that person should be you, meaning you should be the next leader of this organization.
Javier says, me?
He's surprised.
I'm kind of surprised, too.
Javier, eh, not that intelligent, I don't think.
Anyway, he says, but there are a lot of people who outrank me in this organization.
To outrank O-U-T-R-A-N-K.
One word means to have a higher position or to have greater authority in an organization.
So a company might have a president, it might have a couple of vice presidents and then it might have some managing directors.
Well, the president outranks the vice president.
He or she is higher in the organization than the vice president, and the vice presidents outrank the managers.
Javier is saying there are other people in this company who outrank him and who have more experience.
Aisha says that may be true. meaning maybe you're right, but I've decided to make you my protege.
Protege P-R-O-T-E-G-E is a person who receives support, advice and guidance from an older, more experienced person, especially as preparation for that person to take over the job of the older person.
So someday when I get old I mean really old, not old like I am now Someday when I get really old, I will probably find a young version of me, a young Jeff McQuillan, and I will make him my protege.
I will train that person so they can take over as ESL podcast host many years from now.
Many, many years from now, however.
Aisha says, I'm taking you under my wing, Javier.
To take someone under your wing means to begin to make someone your protege, to begin to take that person and give them advice, give them suggestions, give them guidance.
It's something that an older person would do for a younger person in an organization.
Aisha is going to take Javier under her wing, and she's going to groom him as her successor.
To groom, G-R-O-O-M, here means to prepare another person to do a certain job, often your job.
It's similar to taking someone under your wing or making someone your protege.
In this case, Aisha is going to groom Javier as her successor, S-U-C-C-E-S-S-O-R.
I should mention the word groom has a couple of different meanings, very different.
Take a look at our learning guide for those.
I don't want you to use that word in the wrong way.
Take a look at the learning guide.
A successor is the person who takes over your job, the person who comes after someone else as the person taking that job.
Javier says, I don't know what to say.
He's surprised.
He says I'm honored, of course meaning here sort of I'm flattered or I feel very good about you telling me this.
But aren't you going to meet with a lot of resistance by choosing me instead of someone more senior?
Or Javier is asking Aisha if she's going to meet a lot of resistance, meaning people are going to oppose her.
People are going to be against her decision.
The reason they would be against her decision is because Javier is not the most senior person in the company.
Senior, S-E-N-I-O-R, here means to have more experience in the company.
Usually that means you're older.
It doesn't mean that you are what we call a senior citizen.
That would be someone over, say, 65 or 70 years old.
Here it just means someone with more experience at that organization or in that organization.
Aisha says, I might, I might meet some resistance, but I have confidence in you.
With a little time, you'll come into your own and you'll make a fine leader for this organization.
The phrase to come into your own means, to achieve the level of ability or competence in something that you are able to succeed at a job or succeed in a certain position.
To come into your own means to mature, to get the necessary experience so that now you are ready to do this job.
Javier says, all I can say is thank you for having faith in me.
To have faith in.
F-A-I-T-H, in someone, means to believe in someone, to believe that someone can do something.
Aisha says the opportunity is yours and it's up to you what you make of it.
When we say something is up to someone, it's up to you, it's up to john, it's up to phil, we mean that's the person who has the power to make something happen, to make something succeed or fail.
It's the same as saying it depends upon you or it depends on what you do.
It's up to you to go and study harder to pass your test.
It's not something I can do.
It's only something you can do.
You're the one who has that power.
Aisha says it's up to Javier to what he makes of it.
The expression what you make of something means what you do with an opportunity, how you take advantage of a chance, an opportunity to do something.
What will you make of it?
How will you use this opportunity?
Javier says, I know that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Once in a lifetime means it only happens once in your entire life.
Once in a lifetime opportunity would be an opportunity, a chance that will only happen once in your life.
Javier says, I won't let you down.
To let someone down, D-O-W-N, means to disappoint someone, not to meet someone's expectations.
Aisha says, I'm counting on that.
To count on something means to rely on, to depend on something.
I'm counting on you to finish this job.
I'm relying on you.
I'm depending on you.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
It's only a matter of time before I retire and hand over the reins to someone else.
That won't happen for years.
It'll happen sooner than you think.
I've given a lot of thought to the person I want to fill my shoes.
After long consideration, I think that person should be you.
Me?
But there are a lot of people who outrank me in this organization and who have more experience.
That may be true, but I've decided to make you my protege.
I'm taking you under my wing starting now to groom you as my successor.
I don't know what to say.
I'm honored, of course, but aren't you going to meet with a lot of resistance by choosing me instead of someone more senior?
I might, but I have confidence in you.
With a little time, you'll come into your own and you'll make a fine leader for this organization.
All I can say is thank you for having faith in me.
The opportunity is yours and it's up to you what you make of it.
I know that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
I won't let you down.
I'm counting on that.
Our script writer never lets us down.
She always has wonderful scripts.
That's the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2012 by the Center for Educational Development.
