What’s so great about great managers?
Great managers move people. They move people from where they are to where they want to be. They lead, motivate, and inspire. They have high expectations of their people, expecting much from them. And they let them know they expect much from them. When managers are exceptional, they get people to do things they didn’t think they were capable of. Great managers shape and mold the behavior they wish to see in others. They do this best by example. For if the manager cannot be / know / do it himself, how can he expect those he leads to do it?
Steve Jobs’ managerial track record is legion. He was known to have “super” managerial powers. He often put his engineers and designers under tight time constraints to ship a new product. They would fire back saying it was an impossible deadline to meet. Those who worked for him describe a way he would look them in the eye, with 100% confidence and belief in their ability to not only meet the deadline, but even exceed it. He would transfer this confidence onto his engineering and design teams, and it usually turned out they would magically meet the deadline and ship. Apple engineers and designers called this Steve’s Reality Distortion Field, a wonderful way to describe the Jobsian Force. Those who lived it knew it when they saw it. It felt very real to them. You knew when you were in its grip. You felt the wave of confidence wash over you. Who doesn’t want that?
Warren Buffett has an intriguing managerial style: he tries to do as little managing of people as possible. His tongue-in-cheek statement on management is: “We don’t provide it.” You have to bring it yourself. Whenever Warren acquires a company, he insists its management team stay put and work for Berkshire. It is worked into the deal. Warren doesn’t want to actively manage the people of a tool manufacturing outfit. Nor does he want to manage the people managing Fruit of the Loom. Warren wants them to do a great job managing their businesses and then the rest of the operation takes care of itself. Warren and Charlie believe in hands-off management of their individual business units. But they are very hands-on with the profits from those individual business units.
“Read. Read. Read.”
— Warren Buffett
Buffett’s main managerial advice for everyone? Self-investment. “The best money you can ever invest is in yourself,” he says. Even in advertisements. Is there a better self-managing message for both personal and professional development? While his aim with this statement is at education, he advises continuing one’s education after college with further self-education. Charlie calls Warren a “learning machine.” What an excellent complement. If only we had more learning machines out there. We’d be unstoppable. Warren would advise all of us to be learning machines, constantly reading, reading, reading.
In 2005, not one CEO could get Ford’s management team to work together. Its leaders were divided and their business units were siloed. People actively chose to not work together to solve problems. They were only concerned about their own unit, its results, and looking good in meetings. Data were fudged so that the numbers reflected desired results. Dishonesty ran rampant. No one, not even the chairman, really knew what was going on at Ford.
Alan Mulally enters Ford’s doors as its last try at getting the CEO job right. The only cheerleader Mulally had was the chairman. No one else believed in him. Ford’s problems were worse than people stated because they’d been hiding behind the lies for so long. For the first few years under Mulally, Ford teetered above the precipice. After installing his management principles of focus, discipline, working together to solve problems, innovation, and honesty, the company slowly climbed up out of the gigantic hole it had dug for itself.
