Starting with Peter Drucker management has been elevated into the realm of the romantic. How to manage people is now a science, overflowing with analysis and debate. And while the study of management is both interesting and essential, the intellectual aura surrounding management these days has created a culture in which people think being a manager is all about success and glory. But for anyone who is or has been a manager, you know that being a manager is not as sexy as people think.
A great manager will make himself seem unnecessary and never receive any direct recognition. Hardly an ideal position, right? Managers must be stingy with blame and generous with credit. Whatever goes wrong is your fault. And whatever goes right is because of someone else’s work. So many managers that seem to be drawn by the romantic image of management have this philosophy completely backwards. They expect to receive all the credit and none of the blame. And that is why they aren’t good managers.
A good manager will be humble and selfless, and won’t be drawn to management by the romantic ideal of it, but by the responsibility and challenge of the role.
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Alright, who disagrees with me? I know there are some (many) of you out there?
One Comment
1 andrew wrote:
I think you’ve just described the difference between studying management in school, and being a manager in real life.