First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

by Gallup Press

“Then one day, it occurred to me that she should go back to school and become a designer herself. She was very curious about the business, very creative and much preferred to do a job by herself. She played with the idea for a while, and then she acted on it. She enrolled at New York University, got her degree and is now at a large advertising agency as a designer. And very successful. “Janet wasn’t a bad person. She had just picked the wrong career, and having started it, she didn’t want to admit to herself that she had made a mistake. I helped her.” With self-discovery as its energy source, great managers now paint this picture of a healthy career. Guided perhaps by her choice of college major, perhaps by her family, perhaps by necessity, the employee selects her first role and jumps into the fray. In this first role, she is unsure of herself. She is unsure of her ability to perform and unsure of her talents and her nontalents. As she achieves certain levels of performance, she might then move into different roles, or she might simply grow within that first role. Either way, it is now her responsibility to look in the mirror and ask, “Do I thrill to this role? Did I seem to learn this role quickly? Am I good in this role? Does this role bring me strength and satisfaction?” It is her responsibility to listen for the clues that this role plays to her talents.