Many think of management as cutting deals and laying people off and hiring people and buying and selling companies. That's not management, that's deal making. Management is the opportunity to help people become better people. Practiced that way, it's a magnificent profession.
Interpretation
Management should focus on personal development rather than just transactional activities.
In this quote, Clayton Christensen distinguishes between the transactional aspects of management, such as hiring and firing, and the more profound responsibility of guiding and developing individuals. He argues that true management is about empowering people to be their best selves, making it a noble profession that contributes positively to society and individual lives.
In practice
During a leadership workshop, this quote can inspire managers to focus on employee development.
You can talk all you want about having a clear purpose and strategy for your life, but ultimately this means nothing if you are not investing the resources you have in a way that is consistent with your strategy. In the end, a strategy is nothing but good intentions unless it's effectively implemented.
...it's easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold to them 98% of the time.
Disruptive innovations create jobs, efficiency innovations destroy them.
Focus is scary—until you realize that it only means turning your back on markets you could never have anyway. Sharp focus on jobs that customers are trying to get done holds the promise of greatly improving the odds of success in new-product development.
Don't worry about the level of individual prominence you have achieved; worry about the individuals you have helped become better people.
Whenever we have thanked these men and women for what they have done for us, without exception they have expressed gratitude for having the chance to help - because they grew as they served.
You have to work with people you don't like. You have to work with people who are working against your interests to try to bring them around. If you don't talk to them, you end up in the same place. And you never achieve anything.
We've protected thousands of people in Libya; we have not seen a single U.S. casualty; there's no risks of additional escalation. This operation is limited in time and in scope.
My desire to devolve authority has nothing to do with a wish to shirk responsibility.
It was better for me when I was joined at the court by a second woman. When I was there alone, there was too much media focus on the one woman, and the minute we got another woman, that changed.
Global security can be formed or threatened by heads of state whose wisdom, folly and obsessions shape global events. But often it is the security practitioners, those rarely in the headlines but whose craft and energy quietly break new ground, who keep us safe or put us in peril.
As leaders, we owe it to every employee to let them know where they stand in the organization.
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