I liked this article very much and many important lessons for me are contained in the article
- Great integrated overarching way to think of yourself as a manager:
Manage yourself. Manage your network. Manage your team.
-Build and nurture a broad network of ongoing relationships with those they need and those who need them; that is how they influence people over whom they have no formal authority.
I like the second point here about networking relationships and also an example where it is important to campaign within a group or company ahead of time before a presentation so no one has the surprise factor.
But then again I have a copy if Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinmeier Hansson on my table which is a story for another post
The whole question of how managers grow and advance is one we’ve studied, thought about, and lived with for years. As a professor working with high potentials, MBAs, and executives from around the globe, Linda meets people who want to contribute to their organizations and build fulfilling careers. As an executive, Kent has worked with managers at all levels of both private and public organizations. All our experience brings us to a simple but troubling observation: Most bosses reach a certain level of proficiency and stop there—short of what they could and should be.
We’ve discussed this observation with countless colleagues, who almost without exception have seen what we see: Organizations usually have a few great managers, some capable ones, a horde of mediocre ones, some poor ones, and some awful ones. The great majority of people we work with are well-intentioned, smart, accomplished individuals. Many progress and fulfill their ambitions. But too many derail and fail to live up to their potential. Why? Because they stop working on themselves.
Managers rarely ask themselves, “How good am I?” and “Do I need to be better?” unless they’re shocked into it. When did you last ask those questions? On the spectrum of great to awful bosses, where do you fall?
