Kelly wrote this in the late afternoon:
A month ago I switched jobs and it’s been a nice change. Going from “I’d do it myself but it’s beneath me” to “I hired you because you’re the expert” underlines a complete change in management style. Instead of dictating a new direction with little input from those who have experience, from beginning to end the entire team is consulted about what makes sense. Note that this actually requires a team be in place before anything is started!
It also means that there are no secrets about the decision-making process! Even upper-level business decisions are presented and explained. This means that not only does management need to be secure in their decisions, but also their employees have a great amount of confidence in management. It also allows employees to make informed decisions.
It’s no wonder that my new job is much more stable. Imagine driving a train with the switchman staying in the locomotive, surely every switch must be thrown quickly and even a slight delay causes major problems. Wouldn’t it be best to put that switchman out in front a mile, or even further if the train is traveling fast? Obviously that doesn’t make the switchman the boss of the engineer. The CEO that understands that concept is in charge of a company with significant continuing growth, and the CEO that doesn’t like anyone being in front of them is watching their stock price approach zero. It’s not that I didn’t like the excitement, but at some point you have to cut your losses and become more productive.
Filed under: Life is an adventure
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