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Mike & Mark,

I was wondering if you would be covering issues related to senior management. For example, I see senior management as akin to flag officers, while non-senior management is akin to a line officer.

Thanks
David

Mark's picture
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David-

Yes, we will. That said, we have a fairly egalitarian viewpoint of "management", trying to use it in the abstract, versus implying a role stratification above supervisors but below directors. I see senior management as managers... so everything we talk about, for the most part, applies to them in their managerial roles as well.

I've found that General and Flag officer behaviors are quite different from executives that I know, but I accept the comparison as reasonable. It's not something I think about a great deal, probably just because I have so much data on executives, and less on GOs...

Nevertheless.. Yes, we will.

Mark

DavidB's picture

Mark,

I appreciate your view of senior management being management (and they very much better be). While it is rarely as distinct a difference (in my experience) between the managers as it is for flag and line officers, there is something there. Maybe it just the tipping point in the ratio of tactical to strategic tasks. I am not sure, but it is one of the things I hope to learn. :)

Most of my career has been spent in huge organizations, with many (usually cumbersome) layers of management. The term top-heavy is used frequently at the point of lay-offs to justify reducing the middle management layers. I have made it a point to observe the various layers as much as possible over the years, and the only singular distinct difference I can discover is the effectiveness of manager is usually relative to their 'layer' in the organization. The most junior managers usually fail to delegate, do not follow up, do not grow their people, and tend to think in terms of 'I'. The senior managers delegate nearly everything, follow up, still usually fail to grow their people and also think in terms of 'I'.

I am just hoping to learn how not to be like most of the managers I have observed.

Thanks
David