The Art of Leadership

Chapter 9. The New Manager Death Spiral

The starting gun fires, and when the starting gun fires, you run. You’re a new manager, and while the sound of gunfire is startling, you run because this is finally your chance. You’ve been promoted to the role of manager, you want this gig, and this is your chance to shine, so you run.

I will now explain how your good intentions and well-trained instincts are going to erode your credibility, stunt the growth of your team, and reinforce the theory that most managers are power-hungry jerks claiming all the authority and making judgment calls with woefully incomplete data.

It’s called the New Manager Death Spiral and, unfortunately, I can write about it effectively because I’ve performed parts of it. Over and over.

BANG

What I describe here is a synthesized version of the New Manager Death Spiral. It combines every single leadership mistake you can make, spun into a beautiful, cascading, horrific mess. It is unlikely that you’ll perform the Death Spiral this completely, but I guarantee that you’ll perform parts of it.

It begins with a thought: “I can do it all. I’m the Boss.”

As a new manager, you want to prove yourself, so you sign up for everything, you work late, and you do your very best to kick ass and make a good first impression with your new set of direct reports. This is the approach that worked well for you as an individual, so, of course, it’ll work when you’re leading a team. This is where the Spiral begins, because the initial ...