‘Being a brain on a stick is not enough- managing is about making things happen through other people.’

‘For many managers, the real competition is not in the marketplace but sitting at a hot desk nearby, fighting for the same promotion and the same bonus pool.’

‘Activity is not a substitute for achievement.’

‘The perfect solution is the enemy of the practical solution.’

‘Simplicity is far harder to achieve than complexity.’

‘The reward for working hard is to get more work.’

‘Decision-making is as much about politics as it is about reason.’

‘Smart managers think they know all the answers. Really smart managers know the right questions.’

‘Understanding the causes of good or poor performance is as important as measuring the outcome.’

‘Last year’s budget and strategy is the best predictor of next year’s budget and strategy.’

‘The best strategic thinking is very simple: clever people make things complicated, while really clever people make things simple.’

‘To succeed, you do not need to know the right answer. You need to know the right questions.’

‘Use numbers the same way lawyers use facts: selectively to support your case, not to illuminate the truth.’

‘It is better to have one tough month negotiating an easy budget than to have one tough year delivering a budget that was set too high.’

‘If management cannot trust your data, they cannot trust you.’

‘If you do not ask the question, you do not get the answer.’

‘Management numbers are not about maths: they are about thinking and persuation.’

‘A baseline is, perhaps, the most deceptive and dangerous assumption in business.’

‘Effective managers need to be respected and trusted: they do not need to be liked.’

‘If you manage, you sell.’

‘You have to make it easy for people to accept your idea.’

‘Like fear, risk is relative.’

‘You cannot get to the right solution if you do not know what the question is.’

‘If you listen twice as much as you talk, you are well on the way to success.’

‘They will value a solution they discover more than a solution which you impose.’

‘You can be clear about the goals, but you need to be flexible over the mean.’

‘The first step in overcoming the FEAR reaction is to recognise it.’

‘Listening is a wonderful way of letting buyers talk themselves into buying and lovers talk themselves into bed.’

‘Question, not answers, lie at the heart of good coaching.’

‘Technology does not free us: it enslaves us.’

‘To do it right first time means slowing down in order to speed up.’

‘Time effectiveness is about doing the right things.’

‘There are no simple answers, but there are some simple questions.’

‘Once you have made all your lists, act on them.’

‘Do not be contrained by where you starts, focus instead on where you want to go.’

‘People with a positive outlook live longer and better, by a large margin.’

‘A career is a marathon, not a sprint.’

‘Pressure, in the right amount, should be embraced, not avoided.’

‘Better to have a difficult discussion early than to make excuses later.’

‘We need to find ways of sustaining the performance zone for decades, not days.’

‘Care is about building trust, not popularity.’

‘Understanding the nature of power at least gives you the choice.’

‘When you accept excuses, you accept failure.’

‘A vision is no more than a simple story.’

‘Effective change management is about people, not just projects.’

‘A manager who cannot get other people to do things is not managing.’

‘Incremental improvement of a broken system simply helps the bad survive longer.’

‘Far too many organizations help extraordinary people achieve ordinary things.’

‘Most battles are won and lost before the first shot is fired.’

‘The best managers are selectively unreasonable and ruthless.’

‘If you concede anything, negotiate for something in return.’

‘The boss has the power and you have the problem.’

‘It pays to be positive, particularly with a negative message.’

‘Career management is not a substitute for good performance, but it is a way of enduring you are recognised for good performance.’

‘You excel only at what you enjoy, so make sure you find a place of work that you can enjoy.’

‘Hope is not a method and luck is not a strategy.’

‘Management is becoming twenty-first century slavery.’

‘The skills you need today are not the skills you need tomorrow.’

‘Used well, political skills enable you to make things happen.’

‘The influential manager is a trusted manager.’

‘What worked in your last role will not work in your next role.’

‘Instead of managing your own performance, you have to manage the performance of others.’

‘The best new managers discover the fine art of idle management.’

‘Unless you can read the air and change with the wind, you will flounder.’

‘To survive as a middle manager you have to adapt and evolve.’

‘But it is not enough to be indispensable: you have to be seen to be indispensable.’

‘If you live to work and depend on work to fund your lifestyle you become a slave to your firm.’

‘Any middle manager who thinks their job is to pass orders down and information up the hierarchy will survive as long as the tea lady.’

‘As a top manager you become lonely because there is no one you can trust completely.’

‘Be proactive, not reactive, to gain control.’

‘If you have low ethical standards, the rest of the firm will have them too.’

‘If you want the top job, you have to apply for it, and then keep applying.’

‘Managers are driven very little helps in becoming managers.’

‘Lack of time never means lack of time: it means lack of priority.’

‘Good frameworks are aids to thinking, not substitutes for thinking.’

‘The instructions for finding your success formula are simple: ask yourself two questions, find answers, repeat.’

Source

Jo Owen (2015). How to Manage