management

When I was a kid I was introduced to the father of one of my friends.  He had been a company commander in the Korean war.  Back then I was fascinated by all things military and I quizzed him about his experiences.

I asked if he carried a gun.  He said sometimes but not often.  I then asked him if it was scary not having a weapon on a battlefield.  He replied that he didn’t need a gun.  His company was his weapon.

It was one of those “light bulb turning on” moments.  A simple change in perspective.  An entire unit wielded by one individual as a weapon or a tool.

Years later I started thinking about this with regards to business and how successful managers have to strike a balance between getting overly involved in the daily operations of their subordinates and getting so distant from what’s going on that they lose perspective.

A couple of key points come up in this discussion.

Firstly that you don’t demand success from your subordinates.  Rather you put people into positions and jobs that they can handle and then create situations in which they can succeed.  You don’t put an accountant in charge of office supplies or a salesman in delivery.  You assign these people the jobs that they are best suited for and let them carry out their roles as they know best.

Secondly, when you get into a position of power or responsibility you have to stop thinking entirely in the moment and start thinking more tactically or strategically.  Whether you’re just a manager at a local fast food place or the CEO of a major corporation you have to see more of the “bigger picture”.  You think more about competitors, and clients, and supply chains, and the economy and what that might mean to your sales.  Depending on your position you might think a little about this or spend all day on it.

You could, and there have been, entire libraries written on the subject of management but it boils down to just a simple point.  The science and art (let’s make up a new word, sci-art) of management is learning how to use the human and physical resources at your disposal to achieve your goals.

If you can learn how to do that then you can achieve any aim that you want.