Friday, September 25, 2009

Management Quote of the Day

I am in the middle of a job transition. It is a job transition that is mostly, but not completely of my choosing. This is mainly due to a different in managerial "styles". and it has caused me to reflect on what my "style" or philosophy is.

Believe it or not, I still used the the Franklin Covey planner, mainly because it leads to a well formatted diary. It also has a quote of the day. Today's quote comes from Warren Bennis, and typifies my philosophy of management.

The leader...is rarely the brightest person in the group. Rather, they have extraordinary taste, which makes them more curators that creators. They are appreciators of talent and nurturers of talent, and they have the ability to recognize valuable ideas.


In my view, the job of a leader is not just to manage, not just to "get things done". The job of a leader is to craft an excellent team where people are operating at their full potential. If a leader does their job right, people could be executing at a level beyond what they think they are capable of.

3 comments:

  1. Well said. I think a leader's job is also to cultivate a team of differing opinions and styles. Pick your analogy:
    > a golf bag all full of drivers is almost useless;
    > like rivers cutting canyons, only friction helps make fundamental change;
    > in business, any time two people ALWAYS agree with each other, one of them is useless;
    > etc.

    When all is said and done, a good leader will listen to all of the ideas and, if necessary, will make the hard decision, but will never seek to squash those that disagree with him when the reason is one of justifiable grounds.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great post, and I agree 100 percent.

    ReplyDelete