Driving Miss Management

There is a great book called "Rich Dad and Poor Dad" By Robert Kiyosaki He has a quote. " When life is pushing you around it is saying wake up there is something I want you to learn." Although I didn't get it then I do now. See, when I signed up for My first management job out of college I was interviewed and working directly for the General manager. After a few weeks he decided to hire an assistant General manager. From then on out the roles and style of manager, one of the primary reasons for taking the job, was gone. So, lets view a few things that made managing so difficult. First, I had lost the mantra of being a leader when it was important. There had been a rule that there were to be no cell phones out during work. I made it a strong point to tell and sometimes punish those who broke this rule. However, with the primary form of communication with the company being Email. Staying on the phone was the best way to stay up to date with the company. So, there I would be telling others to stay off their phone with mine in my hand. Very hypocritical and It seemed to set the tone for how the rest of my management style was going to proceed. When I was hired to do the job the general manager made it a point that his management style was one of fairness. He spoke of a book called the Oz principle and how we should run this company by these principles. This idea intrigued me. The idea that a manager had a set of principles that he would abide by in order to be an effective manager. It management style that had nothing to do with slapping the wrists of those who did bad and patting the backs of those who did good. This old archaic way of managing that everyone of us has come to dread. So when I joined this organization I felt like we were on the proper management path or at least one that was trying to produce something different. But when the assistant general manager was hired from the beginning I felt that the old ways of managing were going to steadily creep up and bite me in the butt. With all the endless problems that I dealt with during my time there the one thing that I found extraordinarily useful was the lessons I learned about how not to manage. This blog is aimed specifically at those mistakes that I have made and how to correct them. 

“Reason and Judgment are the qualities of a good leader” Tacitus 100 AD