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Lessons from the Band
Tom's latest eBook has been released on Amazon: "The 7 Myths of IT Integrations". Tom is also a Program Director for a large Midwest corporation and has been an adjunct faculty member at Walsh College. He has managed global web initiatives, data center moves and large multi-million dollar programs.
If you flip through most any formal management textbook in any undergraduate or graduate college course, you would likely arrive at a definition of management similar to the following: “The efficient coordination and utilization of limited resources to successfully and optimally achieve predetermined business objectives.”
Now that definition sounds good, although a little abstract. I am always on the lookout for people who have a simpler way of stating things. Not too long ago I ran across a management sage in an unlikely place. There was another leader and manager from the recent past who had distilled his own short list of what it meant to be a manager. As I thought about his wise advice, it seemed to transcend the era in which he lived.
Stan Kenton led one of the most popular big bands of the Swing Band era (roughly 1940-1953). On one of his more successful studio albums of the 1950s, New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm, he took time at the beginning of the recording to introduce each one of his band members and recognize their talents. Interspersed into these introductions were some timeless management points that carry just as big of a punch today as it did back then. According to Kenton, managing is providing four key functions for your team:
A Plan
This is job No. 1 of any manager. You have to have objectives of where you are …
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