First Word

I don't like micromanagement. I had a conversation with an old friend of mine I ran into at Bistro 33. We came from some familiar stomping grounds together. I've known her for years. Anyway the discussion turned to micromanagement. Some people don't truly understand the difference between true leadership and being a micro-manager. Micromanagement is actually time consuming and in many ways very unproductive. Here is my credo: hire the right people, put them in the right jobs, and trust them.  If you can't trust your people to do the job (after proper training, of course) then you shouldn't have hired those people. Micro-managers are not effective. People typically want to work (if you hired the right ones), and they often enjoy the responsibility. If you feel the "need" to sit down and look over your employee's shoulder (an employee doing a good job) then my question to you is, "What is wrong with you?" Answer the inner questions, ...

Yesterday was one of those days ! Just one where you have a few situations that don't make you feel too happy. Client work, in particular, can be fraught with daily challenges. Most of the time, we work with people we know and like. Every now and again, we will get entangled in a contentious client relationship. The thing is some people are never satisfied. And attempting to satisfy the insatiable is an exercise in a lot sugary platitudes, a lot of futility, and frustration. One thing that hit me yesterday as we were brainstorming some problems was that I was treating my executive position like the leader of the free world. Sometimes when you're an executive, you have to make an executive decision which means it's time to sprinkle a little dictator in the mix. My little dictator came raging out when I realized the day was going to be one of those days . So the first thing I did was take charge of a client situation where these clients kept telling us how to run 3L -- of co...