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

by Julie Zhuo

If you are wondering whether you can be a great manager, ask yourself these three questions. Do I Find It More Motivating to Achieve a Particular Outcome or to Play a Specific Role? As a manager, you are judged on your team’s outcomes, so your job is to do whatever most helps them succeed. If your team is lacking key skills, then you need to spend your time training or hiring. If someone is creating problems for others, then you need to get him to stop. If people don’t know what they should be doing, then you need to construct a plan. A lot of this work is unglamorous. But because it’s important, it must be done, and if nobody else does it, then it falls to you. This is why adaptability is a key trait of great managers. As your team changes—whether it’s goals shifting, people joining or leaving, or processes evolving—what you do every day will also change. If you’re committed to your purpose, then you will probably enjoy (or at least not mind) the variation that comes with the job. If, instead, there is a specific activity that you love too much to give up—whether it’s seeing patients, teaching students, writing code, or designing products—then you may find your personal goals at odds with what the team needs most. This question is more important than any other on the list, and a strong yes can make up for almost anything, which is why you see leaders with vastly different strengths and temperaments helming companies. What they have in common is that their number one prior...