The path from being a Manager of one to Manager of many to Leader of many is not an easy one. I believe it was Marcus Buckingham that said that if you told someone that becoming a Manager meant, "listening to and dealing with people's problems for most of your day," there is no way anyone would sign up for it. And yet the backbone of corporate America is middle management. Dilbert and The Office aren't parodies of reality - they are reality in many cases. If I had to do business school all over again, I would have taken psychology, neuroscience, and perhaps a hypnotism class. Finance, Operations, Business Law, Marketing -- whatever. Being a successful Manager requires an ability to manipulate other people without them even knowing it. (i.e., the Jedi Mind Trick) It requires an ability to get people to do things that you wouldn't even do yourself-- or possibly can't do. It requires an ability to "manage" your mindset so that the irrita...
Management | Consulting | Leadership | Strategy