David DâAlessandro, CEO of insurance company John Hancock, wrote in Career Warfare that âmore than anything else, bosses want three things from their managers: loyalty, good advice, and to have âtheir personal brands polished.
Related Quotes
People desire and thrive on jobs that give them control over their own decisions. Since the 1980s, management literature has been filled with instructions for how to delegate more and âempower employees to empower themselves.â The thinking is exactly what weâve heard from Paolo. The more people are given control over their own projects, the more ownership they feel, and the more motivated they are to do their best work. Telling employees what to do is so old-fashioned, it leads to screams of âmicromanager!â âdictator!â and âautocrat!
Eckert adds, âAs the new guy, I realized that every first encounter with a Mattel employee had the potential to be fraught with tension, and I felt it was my responsibility to do everything possible to reduce it. Surprisingly, I found that in each situation, recognizing my own lack of knowledge about the companyâs people and culture - in effect, allowing the employees to be the âbossâ in certain situations - actually helped me lead.
As you take over your new leadership assignment and forge your team, you need to be sensitive to how each individual will be motivated. Great leaders tailor their management styles to the recipient rather than approaching the top team from a one-size-fits-all perspective.
Bosses also want good advice, not yes-men or -women who offer insincere flattery, nor downers who only play the role of devilâs advocate. All intelligent bosses instinctively separate the people they manage into three distinct categories: the sycophants, the contrarians, and the small percentage who are the balanced players. You want to be seen as one in the third group.
Finally, since your boss cares as much about his or her career as you do about yours, what managers really want is for you to make them look smart and successful. âUnderstand that itâs your job to polish the bossâs reputation,â DâAlessandro states unequivocally. âDo not make yourself look good at the bossâs expense.
In broad terms, my management philosophy is to keep things simple. I want rigorous analysis and thoughtful assessments, but I do not want complexity. If strategies and plans arenât easily understood by everyone, they will be acted on by no one. So by keeping things simple, we will be able to act decisively⌠and communicate clearly⌠throughout the entire organization.â - Jim Kilts.