Skip to main content

You have found me!

I, am a Middle Manager. If you are reading this, then you must be one too.

I live in the middle of my city, in the middle of my state, which just happens to be in the middle of my country (Indianapolis, Indiana USA).  Middle, does not mean average.  Technically, it means center.  Statistically it meas median.  Nothing about being a middle manager is average, mundane, or insignifianct, unless a person has decided so, and I have not!

Twenty years ago, when I graduated from engineering school and took a management trainee position in a steel mill, the world was my oyster.  Through all of the ups and downs, that really hasn't changed.  I am older, a little less bright-eyed, less idealistic, perhaps just a touch cynical, but I still view each day as an opportunity to make a difference.  This Earth is going to rotate on its axis no matter what we do.  We change what we can touch with our hands, our words, and our very soul.  I may not be able to change the world for eternity, but I see each day how things that I have been involved with have affected people, places, and events around me.  That is the effect that a middle manager can have.

Upper management, the "C" titles, like CEO, CIO, CFO, COO all have one thing in common.  They all begin with Chief.  In any organization, whether it is a small family company, a multi-national corporation, a charity, or even a tribe, all need and must have a chief.  At my job, where I work for a living,  I am not the chief.  There may be a day, where I am, but that day isn't today and that doesn't bother me one bit.  For a chief to be succesful, he or she needs to have a steady cadre of braves and squaws to lead teams of even more braves and squaws in getting real work accomplished.

The Chief has vision, fueled from a wealth of experience, but the Chief cannot do anything on their own. Even the President of the United States of America cannot win a war, reduce poverty, bolster the economy, or clean our environment.  On the contrary, our President can inspire, and lead us to get the job done but he or she, regardless of title, cannot even drive themselves across Washington D.C.  without help.  In between the Chief and the everyday person, is the manager in the middle, the supervisor, the team leader, the crew coordinator.  We are the ones who take the lofty ideals and forward thinking goals and convert them into tasks, assignments, and systems that are used by people to make things happen.  What are these things?  They are what light and heat our homes, manufacture our automobiles, build our schools, fill the supermarket shelves, fix our roads, and form our communities.

Come back tomorrow and lets see what we can do.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Outlaw Management: My Anger and Disappointment With the Sons of Anarchy, Jax Teller, and Kurt Sutter

     I have always enjoyed quality drama in books, television, and movies.  It is so admirable the creative ways that authors use to conjure believable characters out of nothing but pure inspiration.  The use of the word “conjure” is pivotal in its importance with this article since fictional characters are created, not born and raised from birth.  All too often, people fall into the “Star Trek Character Trap” (I just made that up) where they over analyze the consistency and depth of fictional scripts.  Back in 1986, a memorable skit on SNL, starring Bill Shatner at a Star Trek convention poked fun at the fans for over-analyzing the show into minutia.  Shatner’s stabbing lines including “Get a Life!”, and “ . . .move out of your parent’s basement . .” coupled with the players’ characters reactions (Dana Carvey, Jon Lovitz, and Kevin Nealon) were priceless.  Forget all of the controversy and upset fans, the truth is that the show, like so many other iconic creations was 100% conjur

The Mentor of a Middle Manager - Joel Bussell

       I have been writing this article for almost a month; bits and pieces at a time.   I wanted to finish it before December 26 th, on what would have been my father’s 84 th birthday.   Joel Bussell was the most important mentor in my life.   I have had many people who have influenced me during my journey into middle management.   Supervisors, department managers, coworkers, and even direct supports have helped guide me through numerous challenges.   However, my father was the first and most significant mentor of my entire life.   An engineer, and later an attorney, he was not ever a C-suite executive or a world-renowned leader. To those he taught in his classes or hired and developed in his 40-year manufacturing career, and 15 years as an educator, he was an invaluable mentor.        As I look back on my life, I can visualize many of the times my father advised me.   It was his idea for me to spend my summer mornings as 14-year-old, selling donuts door to door in office building

Smart, Capable, and Competent People Get Fired Everyday

    Over six months ago I experienced something that I haven't been through since my very first job renting prom tuxedos; I was fired.  Don't get any gossipy ideas, I wasn't let go because of anything immoral, illegal, or unethical.  My employment was terminated for "not achieving the goals of my position".  This is a very nebulous statement, and one that is very common when you are in upper management or on the upper end of middle management.     There is a strata in middle management where as long as you are doing your job, and business conditions aren't disastrous, you are pretty secure in your position.  You will notice that your manager or boss doesn't enjoy the same flavor of stability.  In my 25 years in heavy industry, I have seen countless regime changes that have resulted in a purging of the upper management.  Are these managers incompetent? Not always.  Are they insolent and stubborn? Sometimes.  Most often, they don't have the trust of th