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

by Julie Zhuo

Take the Long View with Top Talent

Having a great bench is one of the strongest signs of stellar leadership because

Create a Culture That Prioritizes Hiring Well

it’s about consistent planning and execution—

You do it quickly. You keep your mind open and curious. You learn.

START WITH A CONCRETE VISION

Create a Believable Game Plan

Craft a Plan Based on Your Team’s Strengths

Focus on Doing a Few Things Well

Prioritization is key,

Define Who Is Responsible for What

Break Down a Big Goal into Smaller Pieces

Thinking only about the finish line of a long race can be discouraging

divide your plan up into smaller chunks and focus on your next milestone—finishing

set realistic and ambitious target dates for each milestone.

Keep in mind the planning fallacy:

Allot a ...

If your team is juggling a number of different tasks, order those by what matters most—which

PERFECT EXECUTION OVER PERFECT STRATEGY

Executing well means that you pick a reasonable direction, move quickly to learn what works and what doesn’t, and make adjustments to get to your desired outcome. Speed matters—a

Lists of projects or tasks are prioritized from most to least important,

efficient process for decision-making

decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70% of the information you wish you had. If you wait for 90%, in most cases, you’re probably being slow.”

Every task has a who and a by when.

Balancing Short-Term and Long-Term Outcomes

Define a Long-Term Vision

start by understanding the bigger picture. What problems are you hoping to solve with what you’re doing? How do you imagine people will get value out of your work?

Take a Portfolio Approach

third

Talk about How Everything Relates to the Vision

your team’s aspirations;

Describe over and over again the world you’d like to see. Try to connect every task, project, decision, or goal with the organization’s higher-level purpose.

GOOD PROCESS IS EVER EVOLVING

retrospectives

it’s a good idea to write down the learnings and share them widely.

Resilient processes also try to create repeatable best practices.

requires a playbook

Setting a vision, hiring leaders, delegating responsibility, and managing communication become the key skills needed to bridge the gap.

People Treat You Differently

intimidated others?

Own your mistakes

Use language that invites discussion:

scanning through my calendar every morning and preparing for each meeting, developing a robust note-taking and task-management system, finding pockets for reflection at

You Pick and Choose Your Battles

The Skills That Matter Become More and More People-Centric

hiring exceptional

building self-reliant teams, establishing a clear vision, and communicating well.

THE TIGHTROPE ACT OF GREAT...

GIVING PEOPLE BIG PROBLEMS IS A SIGN OF TRUST

two major errors