Order of the Bath

Once you become a manager, you’re always managing, whether you think so or not. Everything you say and do will be blown out of proportion and treated as the company’s official position rather than your own private opinion. Speaking of privacy, you won’t have any. Comments spoken in confidence will be in everybody’s e-mail by the end of the day. Sooner if they are negative. The price of power is giving up some of your personal identity. There is no point in feeling surprised or hurt by a phenomenon that is as predictable as gravity. Instead, since you will always be managing, learn to manage well. This means thinking before you speak, and considering the effects your words may have on other people. It also means living as if every one of your actions might be discussed at the next annual meeting.

That’s what they mean when they say it’s lonely at the top.

Albert Bernstein

Perhaps if all in management type positions, at all levels and in all situations, not just companies, realised this, then they would think more before opening their mouths.

This entry was posted on 20 Dec 2005 at 18:50 by Rick and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.