Friday, January 16, 2015

The Big Three



If you could have only three of the following skills to use as an executive or manager, which ones would you pick?

  1. The ability to spot opportunities.
  2. The ability to detect hidden problems.
  3. The ability to motivate people.
  4. The ability to say no.
  5. The ability to remain calm during a crisis.
  6. The ability to get along with people.
  7. The ability to think several years ahead.
  8. The ability to manage your time.
  9. The ability to make rapid decisions.
  10. The ability to analyze issues.

4 comments:

Dan in Philly said...

As an old manager once said to me, managers manage processes, leaders lead people. If I am a process manager I'd focus on the process type of skills, #8 for sure, then probably #2 and #10.
If I was in a leadership position, the chemistry is different. #1, #3, and #7 are the most likely bets there in my opinion.
What is interesting is your title may stay the same but your job may change, and the characteristics you need at one time may be different than the ones you need another.

Michael Wade said...

Daniel,

Interesting observation.

One of the classic distinctions is that managers do things right and leaders do the right thing. I like that but the difficulty is leadership and management resemble responsibilities more than roles. People often exercise both leadership and management responsibilities to varying degrees and even within those responsibilities may shift with regard to style.

It is often a hybrid.

Michael

LAGrant said...

I'd choose the ability to prioritize, since I think all 10 are pretty important.

(The captcha are driving me nuts.)

Michael Wade said...

Larry,

I understand about the captcha situation but without it the spam was overwhelming.

Michael