Good business begins with a good boss -- and the truly gifted ones know that their future depends on creating first-rate employees: the kind of men and women they can teach and trust. Reliable, able, ambitious people who respond to guidance rather than requiring supervision or micro-management, and who understand that real success is shared by everyone from the senior manager to the most junior member of the team.
In this priceless business parable, Dale Dauten turns to an eccentric management sage in search of experienced advice on how to become a true leader with the skill and insight to attract and recruit exceptional employees and help them reach their full potential. Filled with prescriptive illustrations, subtle suggestions, and engaging, enlightening anecdotes from well-known managers and CEOs of major companies, this wise, wide-ranging book is entertaining and important reading for anyone who hopes to be an effective boss, able to help every talented employee to excel and grow into a top performer.
My "wisest/oldest" project eventually led me to telephone Max Elmore. I'd saved him for last. He's an eccentric old sage I'd first met at O'Hare Airport, the two of us stranded together by a freak May snowstorm. At the time, I was a disheartened young bureaucrat, feeling stifled and stymied -- feelings intensified that night by being one of thousands of frustrated travelers trying to nap while slumped against the walls, using our carry-on bags as pillows. Unable to relax, I watched glumly as an old guy in plaid pants appointed himself social director for all the restless children in the terminal. Once he exhausted them, he sat beside me, and I responded grouchily to his questions about my life, pouring out my frustrations. Instead of leaving me there to sulk, he cajoled me, then educated me, and ended up changing my life -- literally overnight.
During our hours of conversation Max taught me that you can't get to better without first getting to different. And he showed me how to delight in flukes and coincidences and other offerings of the angels of creativity. I learned a new motto that night: Experiments Never Fail. Within a few weeks I had established a reputation within my company as an innovator, and I'd gotten pulled into a stream of new projects and eventually into a series of promotions. In fact, the success that followed my night with Max had led directly to the conundrum I now faced: I had more career than I wanted.
So it was fitting that I put off calling Max till the end, counting on him to help me pull together what I'd heard. And when I had him on the phone, I told Max that the more I searched, the more lost I had become.
He responded by asking, "So now that you've talked to all these wise old people, what do you think you should do more of?."Truly live. Experience life."
"Good. But what's the main ingredient of those experiences?"
"Other people."
"Yes. The goal isn't just to experience life, but to experience it together. Remember E. M. Forster? 'Only connect.' That's a two-word philosophy of life."
Those two words did indeed strike me as an important truth. But I was knee-deep in important truths. I said to Max, "I've been going in circles, reflecting on life. And since my life is mostly spent working, I've spent a lot of time reflecting on my career. I paused here, knowing I was about to say something that chilled me to contemplate, and I had to make sure my voice would not betray the powerful emotions I was feeling: "I've found myself wondering if I should quit my job, maybe become a consultant. Spend more time with my family."
There was a pause, and I couldn't decide if I would be pleased or disappointed if he agreed. Mine was an enviable job. Solid people, my coworkers. Good salary and benefits. Then again, I found myself not wanting to go to work some mornings, so much so that when the company started a little TGIM campaign, like we should all be thrilled to see Monday morning come around, I had to bite my tongue like it was a piece of Juicy Fruit.
Max finally responded by saying, "I remember hearing John Madden, the football coach, talking about his decision to become a television announcer. It happened not too long after he left coaching. He said something like, 'I quit coaching to spend more time with my family. But after a while, I realized that my family didn't want to spend more time with me. So I went back to work.'"
Max laughed, adding, "I'm picturing you quitting your job, and after a year or so, you discover that your wife and children are sneaking around, hiding from you."
Copyright © 1999 by Dale Dauten
