RULE 8

Know your own importance

You are the most important person in your team, and you’d better know it. No, not because you’re a better person or more experienced or more valuable or anything to get big-headed about. You’re the most important person because everyone else will take their lead from you. You set the bar.

If you play dirty, backstab, worry that your team members are better than you, spy on them, try to stop them outshining you, or are unethical, disrespectful, or anything else of the sort, then you’re not going to excel as a manager, and your team will be so busy checking over their shoulders that they won’t perform, and your department won’t shine.

Maybe you don’t get involved in all that nasty stuff? Good, pleased to hear it. But it won’t help much either if you whinge, complain about directors or customers, take a negative view, resist change, talk about how much you’re looking forward to Friday afternoon, always take the easy option, avoid hard work – your team will copy all those things instead.

Listen, if you don’t set the standard, raise the tone, be the person you want your team to be, then you won’t be a truly great manager. Your team is like a flock of birds or sheep or, well, anything that comes in a flock.^* Where one goes, they all go. And you’re the one they all follow. If you shine, everyone shines. If you fail, everyone fails. Because of you. Scary, huh?

But it’s OK. Because you can be that brilliant manager they need to lead them. And when you are, they’ll be a brilliant team full of brilliant people. Not only will you succeed personally, but you’ll bring success to everyone around you. You’ll approach every task with enthusiasm backed up by solid analysis and common-sense strategies. You’ll treat people around you fairly, and encourage others, and deliver better than you promised, and create a positive atmosphere, and so will everyone around you. Because of you.