Whether it is by freeway, toll road, country lane, highway, bridge, ferry or cow path, the manager is expected to know how to get from Point A to Point B and when to blaze a new trail.
The leader is expected to know whether it's worth the trip.
But it is important for both to know the lay of the land. Experience is important, of course, and its by-product - instinct - is invaluable. A great deal of what a leader/manager does involves sizing up the situation. The brilliant ones can do it quickly. It is said that you have to be born with coup d'oeil. I think it can be acquired.
Sometimes.
3 comments:
It takes years of education, training, and experience to tell if someone is born with it or not.
I agree with Dan. Someone may have an innate willingness and ability to make quick decisions, but without education or experience, those decisions are likely to end poorly.
For example, with no practical experience in, say, organizing a strategic football play (or playing on a team at all), I would be a terrible coach.
However, because I spent many years working in catering, I can look at a beautifully presented buffet table at an event, and immediately spot an area where a bottleneck will occur due to poor layout.
Good point. I once saw a self-service buffet laid out against a wall when simply moving the tables away from the wall would enable people to serve themselves from both sides of the display, making their wait time much shorter. Somebody should have known better.
But I also worked for a man who managed from instinct more than reason. He made decisions with the speed of a hockey goalkeeper, often contrary to what I thought were correct. But over time I learned to trust his instincts over my own rational thinking. He was wrong sometimes, but some of my own alternatives were also not practical either.
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