The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You

by Julie Zhuo

A MANAGER’S JOB IS TO . . . have meetings with reports to help them solve their problems, share feedback about what is or isn’t going well, and figure out who should be promoted and who should be fired. Fast-forward three years. Having done the job now, I’m a bit wiser. My revised answer would look like the following. A MANAGER’S JOB IS TO . . . build a team that works well together, support members in reaching their career goals, and create processes to get work done smoothly and efficiently. As you can see, my answers evolved from basic, day-to-day activities (having meetings and giving feedback) to longer-term goals (building teams and supporting career growth). The new answers sound smarter and more grown-up. Go, me! Except . . . they’re still not quite right. You might be thinking, Well, what’s wrong with these answers? Great managers certainly do all the things on both lists. True, but the problem is that these answers are still an assortment of activities. If I asked you, “What is the job of a soccer player?” would you say that it’s to attend practices, pass the ball to their teammates, and attempt to score goals? No, of course not. You’d tell me why those activities matter in the first place. You’d say, “The job of a soccer player is to win games.” So what is the job of a manager? Without understanding this deeply, it’s hard to know how to be good at it.