Simply Managing

4 Managing Every Which Way

The untold varieties of managing

No one size fits all in managing; there is no “one best way” to manage. Indeed, to repeat, people who believe themselves prepared to manage everything in general are often able to manage nothing in particular. Managing is very much rooted in context. Spend a few hours with a variety of managers, and you will likely be struck by how varied this job can be: a bank chairman visiting branches; a Red Cross delegate looking for tensions in a refugee camp; an orchestra conductor in rehearsal and then performance; the head of an environmental NGO engaging in formal planning while fighting off a political challenge. Managing is almost as varied as life itself, because it is about so much that ...