The real art of management is understanding that other people are like you. I often ask managers what their driving passions are and they tend to respond: to make a difference; to achieve; to care about their families. Then I ask them what this short list tells them and eventually someone will respond that their driving passions are probably the same as those of the people they manage. This is exactly the point. We all share this short list of driving passions. And this poses the question: why do managers manage people as if they were different?
This said, while being the same in terms of shared driving passions, people in general are also very different. When you look at what people are interested in, you will find huge diversity. So the other part of the art of natural management is about understanding this and empowering the people you manage. Management is difficult because of this need to deal simultaneously with the commonly shared concerns and diverse interests of people.
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