A Corporate Fairy Tale (The Outdated Paradigm)

According to the classic managements textbooks and best-selling guides, the ideal manager is knowledgeable, achievement-oriented, detail-oriented, systematic, and efficiency-oriented; organized, a logical and linear thinker; charismatic, visionary, a risk-taker, and changeoriented; and sensitive to people and their needs.

He can integrate all the necessary people to successfully achieve goals. He knows how to build a team while making himself dispensable. He judges himself by how well his group performs; by how well, together and individually, the group members achieve their goals, and by how well he facilitates the achievement of those goals.

He listens carefully, not only to what is being said but also to what is not being said. He understands the need to change, but introduces change cautiously and selectively. He is able to identify leadership potential among his staff and is not afraid to hire and promote bright, challenging subordinates. He is self-confident enough to respect people whose styles are different from his own.

He doesn’t complain when things go wrong, but offers constructive criticism instead. His subordinates are not afraid to report failures; they know that he will be reasonable and supportive. He encourages creativity and looks for consensus in decision-making. He is charismatic, capable of motivating others to work hard to achieve the goals of the organization. He can delegate. He trains his subordinates systematically. He resolves conflicts diplomatically, respecting people’s expectations and ambitions and appealing to their social consciences. He shares information instead of monopolizing it and using it to gain power.

He is driven by a strong code of values. He is analytical and action-oriented; sensitive without being overly emotional. He seeks results, but never by sacrificing the process. He systematically develops markets, production facilities, finances and human resources for the organization.

His organization is a well-integrated entity with defined goals, whose members fully accept and cooperate with one another. No dysfunctional behavior on the part of his subordinates is easily observable.

The problem is: Where on earth do you find this animal? With the exception of ourselves, of course, there aren’t too many of those managers around.

Who is wise? He that learns from everyone. Who is powerful? He that governs his passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.

—Benjamin Franklin

Joking aside, the reason you cannot find this ideal manager is because he is perfect, and the perfect manager is as mythical as the unicorn. That’s why I call this theoretical person “the textbook manager” – because he or she exists only in textbooks.

Expecting to find perfection is a characteristic of adolescence; we should have passed that stage by the time we reach adulthood. That is why I am bewildered by textbooks and schools that keep trying to produce something that cannot be produced. No wonder many executives are frustrated with their MBA-trained managers. No wonder, also, that management consultants are losing credibility and that management trainers are paid poorly.