What is Management?

Source: John Rolfe

As I get older, I have found myself sharing anecdotes, quotes, and proverbs in applicable moments with staff, family, and friends. I valued receiving these at the time from people in my life and hope that my sharing in this kind of venue may offer some value to you.

Setting: I was being promoted into a management position. I reported directly to John Kinsey, VP and he reported to the President of the Midwest, John Rolfe. John Kinsey and I were both in Denver, CO. John Rolfe managed a larger region and lived in Dallas, TX. I saw him on visits and at company events. His background was unique. In the early days of CDI and staffing, they looked for profiles with similar skills to staffing and leadership potential. One such skill was that of a school teacher. John Rolfe was the teacher who joined the company and was elevated to executive leadership.

Wisdom moment: John Rolfe pulled me aside to congratulate me on my promotion. I remember talking about my ideas for what to do with staff, clients and our technology.  He interrupted me and told me to remember that what really will matter in my career, will be leadership. “Management is creating an environment that heightens the human spirit, allowing them to accomplish amazing things”. 

Value: : I think at the time, I was so focused on the material changes I could show in my new role. I thought these words were great, but not sure what I could do to create such a lofty concept. But the truth was simple; be enthusiastic about the value and purpose of your company and then believe in the capability and value of your staff.  Celebrate the successes, big and small.  You may not be able to have a metric that shows the level of human spirit. But you can see it in their faces, hear it in their voice and the most elusive metric….   and you can feel it.