This is a serialization of a commencement address I was honored to give to the graduating classes of University Center Cesar Ritz, in Brig, CH. These lessons came mainly from mistakes I made along the by-ways of my career: #1-- Find work you love. #2 -- Choose the right people with whom to associate. #3 -- Don't manage. Lead. #4 -- Be forward looking. #5 -- Think small. #6 -- Empathize. #7 -- Execute relentlessly. #8 -- Be of Service.
#3 Don't Manage. Lead
(At the commencement, I asked all who intended to manage others to stand; after a hesitation, nearly all the 200-some graduates rose to their feet.” Well, sit down,” I admonished,) ...”good people don’t want to be managed.”
I recall coming home one night frustrated by my Marriott team. “They are just unmanageable” I fumed. My wife burst out laughing. “So when were you ever Mr. Manageable” she chided. She was right; I had driven bosses to distraction at times with my restless attempts to short-cut, do things better/cheaper/differently, always seeking some new new thing.
No, good people don’t want to be managed, and don’t need to be. What do they want? What do they need? Leadership. Given a vision to share, clear-cut goals and accountabilities, and the direction to go, good people will produce. Stand back and let them be good people to work with.
Manage yourself and your boss, not them. Given good leadership, your people will manage themselves -- and you.
Don’t manage. Lead.
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