Businesssense

By Jeff JonesBusiness Editor

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Jack Bauer was a guy who did it his way, usually on his own and with a resolved determination to reach the conclusion he felt was best. If you have seen or heard about the TV show, 24, you are familiar with what I am talking about.

Bauer, played by Keifer Sutherland, is a government agent working in a special counter-terrorism unit who gets answers when no one else gets answers, fi nds people no one else can fi nd and eliminates all the bad guys who don’t come along peacefully. He does it working alone, trust-ing very few and strong-arming everyone he needs to in order to get the results he wants. I have worked with several people who are similar to Jack Bauer; people who think that their way is the only way and that they can do it better than everyone else.

The ego-driven manager is all about keeping the spotlight on him. This manag-er wants the attention focused on himself and doesn’t want to share or give credit to anyone else. This manager typically

Jack Bauer Management

thinks they got where they are on their own merit and, while this might be true at times, doesn’t think anyone else they have worked for brings as much value as they do. This manager will often complain to their staff about doing little to help the business while giving their staff little, if any, opportunity to help out. Instead, this manager wants to issue edicts for what their staff must do which is often the worst tasks while the manager takes on the high-er profi le projects. They will do whatever they can to keep the attention and focus on themselves over their staff.

The fear-driven manager is often para-lyzed by worry of doing something wrong and will keep tasks for themselves because they don’t trust their people to perform adequately. They come to work more wor-ried about making a wrong decision than making the right decision and do as little as possible thinking they will not get in trouble for something they don’t do. The fear-driven manager teaches their employ-ees that the best way to keep their job is to follow the rules and keep their heads down. They don’t see getting ahead as a result of taking risks and making decisions instead working in an environment where they hope they are simply holding their ground. The employees who leave are

frustrated by being held back from trying anything new while the employees that stay have usually fi gured out they can ma-nipulate the manager because of his fear.

The ignorance-driven manager is one who just doesn’t know any better. There examples were ignorant of how to train and motivate people, instead often only knowing a dictatorial style of management that has them preaching a philosophy of “it’s better to be seen than heard.” They think that doing it all yourself is simply how a manager proves his worth and why he is in that position. This person has been hampered by the people around them who don’t have the ability, patience or desire to learn how to delegate and share even the most basic of tasks.

There are other personalities that could be explored but these are three of the most common issues you will fi nd with entrepreneurs and managers and, while they complain about the lack of help they receive, they do little to men-tor and prepare their staff to make more decisions and facilitate leadership growth within the resources they already have available to them. It’s sad and these types of leadership often run their course and they are over fairly quickly.

Over the years, I have categorized these people into three types of “managers”, ego-driven, fear-driven and ignorance-driven.

Jeff jones.indd 3Jeff jones.indd 3 5/26/2010 2:23:11 PM5/26/2010 2:23:11 PM