To thrive, all businesses must focus on the art of self-disruption. Rather than wait for the competition to steal your business, every founder and employee needs to be willing to cannibalize their existing revenue streams in order to create new ones. All disruption starts with introspection.
Jay Samit – Investor & Entrepreneur
Years ago, I was running a project. The project was over budget and over schedule. Not good! I did a lessons learned on the project, when it was done. A lessons learned is a post mortem of project risks – what went right, what went wrong, and what could be improved. One VUCAN on my project team compared me to one of those Dilbert clueless managers. The irony was I’d thought I’d done a pretty good job.
So, I wondered what made a good manager and where did management come from. A few years ago, I did a little research to understand the background of management. Management was invented in the 19th century. The root of the word ‘management’ comes from the Latin manus, meaning ‘hand,’ ‘power,’ or ‘jurisdiction. Interesting! It fits. And In the medieval English contract, property stewards administered large landed estates and were required to deliver receipts or revenues ‘by hand’ to the property owner. The stewards were required to know every element of the business under their control. In England, the term ‘manager’ was adopted widely around the 16th Century and is even referenced in Shakespeare’s plays.
It’s surprising that it hasn’t matured much in the age of digitization and an era where Asia is ascendant. VUCAN requirements focus on identity, fairness, and justice. New business models have developed. Tech has accelerated. Automation robotics are implemented daily. COVID pandemic changed a lot of rules. However, management in many ways is mired in the 20th century.
Work Lesson Earned: So if you’re a manager, employee, or itinerant professional, what does management mean to you? Do you want to move into management?