1000 Business Lessons Every Businessman Must Know

Chapter 55 Management Misunderstandings: Some Management Mistakes Commonly Made by Bosses

449. Advocating power
The police have a pistol, but never use it.For the boss, his power is equivalent to the pistol in the hands of the police.The role of power itself lies in inducing and not in its actual use.

"I personally represent the business." This is a manifestation of the delusion of power.

It's worth asking yourself, "Has my behavior changed since I became the boss?" Have you become so arrogant that almost everyone you know fears you or treats you Every whim and demand to be obeyed?Do you sometimes do things wrong, but never suspect it?

Now is the time to stop and think, do something else, or do nothing.It's a pretty simple question, but one of the hardest to answer - especially when we seem to be in complete control of our own destiny, when the skies are clear and many of the bosses we fall are when everything seems calm. Somersaulted.So sometimes slowing down, or even pausing to reassess your path, may be the best strategy.

As you try to gain more power, you may be losing your power.Managers must be completely free from illusions: total control—to have a hand in everything—is neither possible nor necessary.Interestingly, you'll find that instead of trying to have complete control, you gain more power—the power to get things done.

450. Self-obsession
Self-obsessed bosses, despite their charisma and vocal charisma that energize employees, are not easy to deal with.They have the potential to make the following mistakes, and once they make mistakes, they will seriously restrict their career and personal development.

A common manifestation of self-obsession in business is an overly superstitious belief in personal charm.Many bosses have a misconception that charisma is the essence of management.Effective management, however, does not depend on charisma.Charisma can sometimes be a manager's Achilles' heel: It makes managers rigid, self-important, and resistant to change.manifested in the following aspects

1. Resist criticism
Narcissistic leaders are overly sensitive to criticism. They not only avoid and resist criticism, but cannot even tolerate the existence of any different opinions.The reason is that the door to their inner world is not open to anyone, and they keep an emotional distance from anyone.Many narcissistic leaders verbally advocate teamwork and equal communication, but what they want in their hearts is subordinates who say they are right. As a result, subordinates with independent thinking continue to leave or be fired, and eventually there is a talent crisis.

2. Not good at teaching

Narcissistic leaders are used to calling the shots and are not good at teaching employees.Even the highly effective narcissistic leader Jack Welch does not instruct his employees inspiringly to stimulate their creativity, but to let employees act according to their own ideas and patterns.They are not coaches, they are commanders.Commanding is relatively simple, while teaching requires understanding, respect, tolerance and heart.These are the weaknesses of narcissistic leaders.

Therefore, as a manager, don't just be attached to your own ideas, other people's ideas may be better.Instead, use your ideas to guide others.Let everyone look forward to what future success will bring them.

451. Talking but not doing
The phenomenon of "saying" instead of "doing" exists in many enterprises.They come in various forms:
Presentation instead of action: Discussion, writing, as the central work of managers.Especially in large enterprises.

Desk work replaces action: Action is replaced by planning, meeting, preparing written materials, etc.

Corporate credo instead of action: this is the most common form.Express the corporate credo or values ​​in some way (such as printing small cards to employees, or printing them on posters), in fact, the desired things will not automatically become reality.At this time, "talking more and doing less" has become a common and acceptable behavior for people.People feel it is acceptable because no one has come out against it or done it the other way around.

Most people are too willing to analyze problems.I often underestimate the simple actions that can bring about immediate business success and change, and I always wait until things are pushed to the head before doing something.Standards are developed, processes are defined, and the content is appropriately questioned, proofread, and accompanied by diagrams with acronyms.However, as long as we remain in the analysis and planning stage, we are talking too much and doing too little to achieve that goal.While planning and analysis are sometimes useful, many of these tasks do not have any direct impact on the desired outcome.Sometimes the best place to start is right in front of you.Use the time, money, and resources available to do your best to accomplish the mission, and start doing what you can today.

452. Don't Think About It
"Think carefully and follow through" is a very basic concept, but it is ignored every day.We've all seen poorly designed buildings and instruments and wondered how this could have happened.The reason these things happen is that the designer didn't make a mental simulation plan.

As long as we are willing to think, all the problems in the world can be solved.The trouble is, we often rely on devices to keep us from thinking.Because thinking is a chore.How to solve this dilemma?Expert advice is:

--look back at past;
- observe your team;
— the process of inspection activities;

- review who gets the reward;

——A brief tour of the environment;

——Listen to experts;

- Open your eyes and act.

You can do some reflective thinking at a favorable time.Use the early morning to jog, exercise, write, meditate, and plan.For many people, this is a quiet time, a time for introspection and a time to warm up the motor of the mind.

453. Forget the quick fix
"Okay, I'll do it." That's what bosses always say.

There is no doubt about their determination, but what is worrying is the level of determination behind the words "I will do it".

If your company's expenses are too high, start looking for ways to reduce them immediately; if there are too many inventories, stop purchasing immediately, instead of waiting for the so-called "perfect" report to start taking action; When the payment is found to be too high, several documents with relatively large amounts should be collected immediately and demanded immediately.By the same token, you'd rather immediately find ways to get other new orders to make up for the missed goals, than wait for a long time to wait for a perfect, flawless plan that can make $100 million before implementing it.

How to get rid of the dilemma of indecision when making a decision?Expert advice is:
——Create a high-performance team and come up with better decision-making methods;

— Minimize the scope of fundamental decisions;
— Downgrade the level of institutional decision-making;

- take into account the possibility of everyone avoiding action;
- Make decision-making easy for others to do.

- Don't think of the process itself as a problem, otherwise no one will sell the idea.Don't assume things are someone's fault;

——A person who insists on seeing through everything before making up his mind will always have no idea.

454. Be a Good Mr.

If the reason for clouding your judgment is that you think people will like you to do so, you run the risk of being judged unjustly as a politician.If you want constant affirmation that you are a leader who pleases every employee, the job of being a good manager offers little consolation.It's a good thing not to be hated by everyone, but don't forget: in order to win people's sincere respect and love, managers must sometimes adopt some unusual management methods.

As a business manager, it is impossible to be everyone's friend.There are two reasons for this.One, there will always be issues involving some of your closest employees.When you have to make difficult decisions, those closest to you naturally want you to take sides, but you just can't.Second, appearing particularly familiar with or inadvertently showing affection for certain people can affect your balance of power.Every effort must be made to be fair and objective.

Don't fall into the trap of trying to quell people's resistance, stand your ground, keep providing people with information and get meaningful feedback, but don't lose your motivation to win people's encouragement or favor.It's important that you can consciously lead people through difficult situations as a way to gauge how well people work with you when they don't particularly share your goals.

455. Narrow vision
You may have had the experience of looking at oil paintings in art galleries or wherever there are oil paintings.When you stand in front of the painting and try to see it more clearly, you will find that the picture is unbearable: you can't see anything but a mess of colors!But when you take a step back and look further afield, you will see how wonderful it is!

The experience of appreciating oil paintings reveals a profound truth: when we focus too much on our goals, we fail to achieve them.

This is because you are so engrossed in your own goals and activities that you lose sight of the wider external connections within which you operate.

It's human nature to always look for predetermined answers, always with this bias, and it's hard to really offer a fresh window.Lessons like this happen a lot in market research, so you'll find that market research is just that.

If you are troubled by your goals or problems in the organization, I suggest that you might as well put your goals and problems down first, and focus on other things, maybe you will be able to discover another perspective.

456. Too much pursuit of perfection
You can expect too much, but sometimes good enough is enough.You can waste too much time and energy dreaming of perfection, only to have no time to do anything well.What we need to remember is: when the time is right, just accept it.

Sometimes perfection is worth striving for.Letters sent from the office should be free of any typos or grammatical errors.In addition, those who wish to manufacture parachutes, condoms, and aircraft take-off and landing equipment also strive for perfection.However, some perfection, even if possible, is not worth the time to achieve.We need to know when to aim for perfection and when to let it go.

Sometimes you have to move on to the next project, hit the next ball, or drop the proposal in the mailbox.A lot of the planning and work you have to do is like hurdles.You shouldn't hit the fence, but there's no extra points for being taller after crossing the fence, you just jump over it.In the same way, if the plan you make requires crossing many hurdles in a short period of time, then you spend too much energy on the first hurdle, and you will be exhausted and have no extra energy to complete the rest. At the same time, You will also be slowed down.The best hurdlers jump over the fence with only a slight margin.

In most cases, what customers ask for is quality.You could spend thousands of dollars making the best fountain pen in the world, but if all your customers want is a disposable ballpoint that writes well, you're wasting time and resources.Your client may not want you to spend too much time on one part of a plan, but wants you to do each part well.Your boss (or client) may just want you to write your responses directly and casually on a post-it note instead of writing a long-winded answer.The trick is to find out what customers really want. This is the most important management skill and the way to survive.

457. Wait until it breaks before repairing it

A wild boar is grinding its tusks diligently on a big tree.The fox saw it, and asked it curiously, why did it grind its teeth so hard, since there was no hunter chasing it, and there was no danger.The wild boar replied, "Think about it. Once danger comes, there is no time to grind your teeth. Grind your teeth now, and you won't be flustered when it's time to use it."

In fact, we often wait until the moment of need arises before we think about doing it.Don't wait until it's broken to fix it.

Another way of saying do it before you need it is to avoid crisis management.Try to anticipate a possible crisis and then take steps to prevent it.If you do preventive maintenance, you won't have all the troubles of blown tires, breakdowns, or wear and tear, which are no fun at all.

So do it before you really need it, before you have to.

It takes ten times as much financial or material resources to solve a problem than to prevent it.Real managers don't try to cut problems like a surgeon, but spend more time preventing them because they know when and how to intervene.In a sense, it's a bit like homeopathic medicine: Small doses of a prescription are used to stimulate the system to heal itself.It's more like the best part of nursing: loving with tenderness and letting sickness heal itself.

458. Complicating matters
The geese and the fox fell into the iron cage set by the hunter at the same time.

The fox said to the wild goose: "I have a thousand ways to escape."

Dayan said: "There is only one way for me to regain my freedom."

Just as I was talking, the hunter came.The wild goose pretended to be dead. The hunter thought the wild goose had been killed by the fox, so he took the wild goose out of the iron cage and threw it on the ground. Suddenly, the wild goose spread its wings and flew away.However, the fox has not yet decided which method to use to escape, but the hunter puts it in a pocket and cannot escape.

This fable confirms a point I have been emphasizing in this book: the simple way is often the most effective way, or the best way.The secret of simple management is to transform complex things into several simple things to do.To do complex things well, one must be good at turning complexity into simplicity.

"A man should wholeheartedly trust in the answer to a problem, and not in anything more complicated." The medieval Mingzhe Okan told us.What he said couldn't be more straightforward: the key is to solve the problem, not whether it is simple or complex.

(End of this chapter)