Beyond the Rhetoric

“A manager does not manage people. People are unmanageable. The manager manages the system.”

The above quote was tweeted a couple of days ago by Pete Quily, who I met at last year’s Freelance Camp in Vancouver. It doesn’t have to do with running a freelance business specifically, but it does provide an interesting perspective on the “manager” construct.

Michael Gerber is an author and the founder of E-Myth Worldwide, a business skills training company targeting small businesses and entrepreneurs. The interesting thing is that the “E” in E-Myth does not refer to electronic like how we would talk about e-mail and e-paper. Instead, it stands for Entrepreneur.

Indeed, Gerber has authored several books capitalizing on his “E-Myth” branding, including The E-myth Revisited and The E-myth Enterprise. Whether you’re interested in starting a service-based business like consulting and graphic design, or you want to open a brick-and-mortar store to sell handicrafts and widgets, many of these “e-principles” can easily apply.

Like the concept of a manager. I’m not completely convinced of the truth behind Gerber’s quote above, but it is something worth considering. People are inherently difficult to manage and it takes a certain skill set to be able to do it well. In this way, it might more sense that a manager is working to keep the system in check and the people are the all-important “cogs” in this system that need to be managed.

In watching shows like Kitchen Nightmares and The Apprentice, I think part of this is true. You do have to take something away from the human element in management if you want to get the job done, get it done well, and get it done on time. That said, I still think that good people skills go a very long way when it comes to a good manager and a good leader.

What do you think?

Tags: entrepreneur, management, perspective

Filed under Personal Development.