Middle Management Blues

Errors make life interesting.   If it weren’t for errors, both by us and by those around us, life would be pretty dang boring.   Some harried people (like me) might enjoy a boring day once in a while, but human nature is that we’re just a bunch of screw-ups. I saw a presentation recently in which the expert stated we all make at least five errors per hour.   I would suggest that number is low, because the only worn-out key on this keyboard is the backspace (and I’ve only had this computer for a month).   I hope I’m a better at managing than typing, but I’m certain I make mistakes all the time – some I realize quickly and some I never learn about (I’m wagering on this one because I’ll never know, will I?).   I came upon a group of workers a few weeks back during a production interruption, where four of them were not working and one was.   They were doing a miserable job and I’m sure the four were resting from recent exertions.   It did not stop me from ...

I live in a part of town that attracts an unusually large number of non-American residents.   Most of these are European professionals, and for many of them it is the first time they’ve owned a home.   The guy who lives kitty-corner hails from Spain .   I’m willing to bet that he had never seen a lawn mower before. One fine spring day I was sitting in my living room relaxing from a hard day’s labor.   My neighbor, who had recently moved in, was attempting to mow his lawn.   The large cardboard box was indication that the mower was a new purchase.   Though we live in an area with numerous Mexican immigrants, the instructions were apparently not in Spanish or he chose not to read them. It was a nice mower.   Nicer than mine.   It had a nice big bag for catching the clippings.   It had a drive so he did not have to push it.   I glistened in the early evening sun.   I was almost envious. Unfortunately, the house had been vacant for a wh...

Managers at my place of work dearly love to use this quote: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”   They attribute this to Einstein and it makes them feel smart; smarter than their employees for sure.   They can quote Einstein, and he was brilliant (at least as a young man), therefore they must be brilliant. Unfortunately, no one is quite sure that Einstein ever actually said it.   The quote is sure to tick me off, because the implication is that I’m too stupid to figure this out for myself.   I feel chided to change.   Well, folks, if you want to change, it helps to know what to change to. Change is good.   Change is hard.   Michael Hutchence told us, “Don’t Change”.   Seasons change and so did I, according to Burton Cummings .   Carlin put a dollar in a change machine but nothing changed.   The great guru said that it is not necessary to change because survival is not mandat...

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If you liked the band Phish and I told you that I liked the jam on YEM, but DWD was not my favorite, you might reply that you didn’t much care for the new stuff and that the Gamehendge on June 6th of 1994 was the best the band ever did. An eavesdropper who had never heard of Phish might think we were totally nuts. They might be right. By making those statements we were using language to distinguish ourselves from the madding crowd, and we were also using it to bond between ourselves. Managers often overlook or fail to recognize how language can raise their status among those above and below. What might happen if I sidled up to a young lady in a Phish T-shirt and offered up, “Did you dig that version of You Enjoy Myself? I thought it cooked.”? It’s likely she would believe me to be a total poser who was trying to pick up on her. I tried to speak the lingo but I failed. A true speaker recognized it and knew I had pretentions but maybe not much else. So you’re a middle manager. You...