Management In A Changing World

CHAPTER 8INVESTING IN PEOPLE

“I tell my students, ‘When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab‐bag candy game.’”

—Toni Morrison, American novelist

“Danny took me from someone with a job to someone with a career. Before Danny, I had managers who saw I was good at what I did, but they didn't push for more. They didn't ask me what else I wanted to do or learn; they didn't talk about my potential or encourage me to grow. I never got feedback beyond ‘keep doing what you're doing!’ I spent a lot of time working and not knowing where I was going next. I didn't even know what else there was to grow toward. Then, I met Danny.”

We heard this reflection from Kayla, a staff member at a client organization. Kayla and Danny met on a campaign—Kayla was a program assistant, and Danny was a volunteer member of the leadership team. A year into the campaign, Danny took a job as the campaign director. Kayla shared, “Even though my role was to provide administrative support, Danny always asked for my thoughts on strategy. So when he took the job, I became his right‐hand person. And when he started managing me, I noticed a shift—in how I was treated, how I felt about the work, and how I felt about myself.”

At the beginning of this book, we discussed the value of management—the incredible power ...