The idea that managers rise to their level of incompetence is a dangerous myth

hoto: Wikipedia March 2024

Rowland Hussey Macy studied business, graduated from business school, and opened a retail store. It failed. He started another. It failed too. This happened four times, and he failed at each attempt. However, on his fifth attempt he succeeded even though the first day brought in a miniscule $11.08 in sales. Still Macy died a wealthy man. Moreover, a hundred and fifty years later, Macy’s store still exists and even though suffering setbacks occasionally like other retailers, it was reported that Rowland Macy’s successors recently received a  $5.8 billion buyout offer.

Politicians are obvious examples at proving that by following the right principles from Peter Drucker you can advance from a dismal failure to outstanding success. Ronald Reagan was defeated twice as Republican nominee for U.S. president. He’d been a Democrat previously. He finally succeeded in becoming nominee and then President of the United States, on his third attempt. Despite former president Trump’s numerous legal problems,  the Supreme Court ruled recently that former President Donald Trump should appear on the ballot in Colorado in a decision that follows considerable debate over whether the frontrunner for the GOP nomination violated the “insurrectionist clause” included in the 14th Amendment.

Another prominent U.S. president failed at just about everything. He failed in business, ran for the Illinois State Legislature and was defeated, went into business again and went bankrupt, ran for Speaker and was defeated, was defeated in a nomination to Congress, was rejected for an appointment for the U.S. Land Office, was defeated in a U.S. Senate race, and two years later defeated again in a nomination for Vice President. Then in 1860 he became the 16th President of the U.S. and took the country to war against the Confederate States. This saved the Union which made up the United States. To the best of my knowledge neither his detractors, and certainly not historians, ever called Abraham Lincoln a failure.

Getting the Right Person for the Right Job

This step is most important, and yet it is frequently neglected by managers who are hiring others as well as, many emerging leaders. If you are the consultant or the responsible manager, you may be faced with a needed subordinate. The process to obtain one may have started and been completed before you were in a position to make the decision. However, even if it is too late to do anything about finding the best person for the job, you may get in early enough to adjust, or at least correct the situation.

If you are the individual looking at a possible new opportunity, just remember that Drucker said that staffing should be from the perspective of the right person for the right job, where the individual’s strengths lie. Film actors frequently turn down potential roles in new movies because they know that the opportunity may be either be not right for them or have the wrong director, or wrong co-star or they feel they are not right for the movie, regardless of what someone else thinks. Managers are artists of a different type. Still a manager’s professional artistry in his or her work is of no less importance to the outcome of the endeavor. Drucker recommended following three important guidelines for the hiring manager:

1.      Think through the requirements of the job

2.      Choose three or four candidates for the job rather than deciding  

immediately on one candidate

3.      Don’t make your final selection without discussing the choice with knowledgeable colleagues. This goes for all concerned directly with the appointment.

The Requirements of the Job

A poorly designed job, one in which the requirements have not been thought through may be an impossible job, a job that no one can perform successfully. An impossible job means that work intended to be accomplished can only be accomplished poorly or cannot be done at all. Being impossible or nearly so risks the destruction, or at best, the misallocation of scarce and valuable human resources, including yourself. To design a job properly, the objectives and requirements of the job must be analyzed to decide on those few requirements that are crucial to the job’s performance. That way the individual trying to fill the position can avoid filling it with a candidate who minimally meets all requirements rather than staffing for strength for the few critical areas of the job that are essential or more important.

If you are the candidate, you should do an analysis yourself to ensure that to the best of your ability, you believe you can perform the job well and better than anyone else under the conditions intended. If you can’t, inquire as to whether the conditions you feel might hurt your ability to perform the job well can be changed.

Choose Multiple Candidates for a Job before Selection

Some managers’  promote or make selections for hiring after considering only one or two candidates. They are in a hurry or they are overly impressed with a single candidate for a position. At the very least, think through and select several candidates. The correct way according to Drucker is to consider three or four candidates, all of whom meet the minimum qualifications for the position and make the right decision. Have these selections right from the start.

Sometimes the reason that this wisdom is ignored is that the hiring executive makes assumptions about a candidates’ suitability before considering all candidates qualifications against the prime job requirements. So establishing the most important requirements is a necessity and immensely helpful.

Managers having the opportunity to accept such a job frequently make a similar mistake. They are frequently blinded by the new job being a perceived promotion, paying better, or having a more impressive title. But all these factors are secondary to the ability to perform the job and enjoy themselves during the challenge of their performance. As the manager looks at a prospective new job, being detracted by a few impressive, but less relevant factors is another reason to consider alternatives before accepting any position.

Discuss Your Choice with Colleagues

Drucker was not saying that hiring and making job appointments is a group decision. It is not, and as the hiring executive you are responsible for the outcome regardless of others’ opinions of those with whom you consult. You are still responsible. However, it makes sense to share your plans and get others’ opinions and ideas whenever it is possible to do so. Even if you decide to promote someone who others don’t recommend, at least you’ll know the pitfalls of your appointment and you’ll learn more about what others think and know regarding the candidates you are considering.

Is this a Work in Progress?

It would be nice if every manager could hit the ground running in every new job. However, this isn’t always possible, especially in a new job that is new not only to the placed executive, but also to the organization. Whether new, or old it may present a unique challenge to any a manger. A supervising manager can ease the way by clearly laying out requirement, meeting frequently during the early weeks with the individual in a new position, helping or assisting without doing the new appointee’s job for him or her, but above all, not letting the new appointee fail. So don’t be too hasty in immediately replacing a new assignment. Some need time to develop, and sometimes the assignment itself may have been made without knowledge of a particular factor or whether adequate resources such as money, personnel, equipment, or facilities have been allocated. Moreover, this can change given the way the new assignee operates or plans to operate. You may never be able to anticipate this precisely because there are many ways of approaching any task, and this depends on the capabilities and thinking of who now and who will eventually hold the position in the future.

Remembering that as the boss, never forget the injunction: “Don’t you let this new hire fail.” Again, if you are the job candidate, you need to look at yourself. You can stretch and learn and should expect changes from any similar job you have held. But if the job isn’t one you think you can learn or grow into, look at alternatives and discuss this with the individual who hired you.

Drucker’s Approach

The idea that managers rise to their level of incompetence is a dangerous myth. If a manager isn’t performing, of course he needs to be relieved of his or her duties. But to automatically fire a manager due to failure with no further thought is, Drucker maintained, human sacrifice. There may be an equally challenging job available at which he or she can be highly successful, even if unsuited to this particular job.

Do Drucker’s suggestions and you will not only have an excellent “batting average” of promoting the right person into the right job and of success. More over your organization is on the way to having the best and most qualified managers. And if you are the candidate for a promotion or a sideways move and one of these managers being considered for the job, you will help yourself to success as you turn past failures into success while you contribute to the success of any activity your new organization  has undertaken.

*Developed from Drucker’s ideas presented in the classroom and syndicated internationally,

*הכותב ד"ר ביל כהן הנו מומחה בתורת המנהיגות. ד"ר כהן הינו מייג’ור גנרל בדימוס בחיל האויר האמריקאי, בעל תואר דוקטור בניהול מאוניברסיטת קלרמונט. כתב למעלה מ- 50 ספרים שתורגמו ל- 22 שפות בנושאי ניהול ומנהיגות. ביל כהן שימש כיועץ בעמדות בכירות וכמרצה באוניברסיטאות הטובות בארה”ב בינהן ביה”ס לניהול באוניברסיטת קלרמונט וב-UCLA. בנוסף, הוא מעביר הרצאות וסמינרים בנושא מנהיגות בכל זרועות הצבא האמריקאי ובאקדמיה הצבאית וזכה בפרסים על הרצאותיו בעולם. מעבר להיותו גנרל בצבא ארה”ב, ד”ר כהן הנו בעל דרגת רב סרן בחיל האויר הישראלי והשתתף בקרבות אוויר במלחמת יום כיפור. שימש בתפקידי ניהול בכירים במספר חברות וכיהן כנשיא של שתי אוניברסיטאות פרטיות. ביל כהן היה חבר דירקטוריון במספר מועצות מנהלים ומועצות סחר עירונית, ממשלתיות ושל תאגידים שונים.ביל כהן היה תלמידו הישיר לדוקטוראט של פיטר דרוקר אבי תורת הניהול המודרנית שאמר עליו בין היתר כי ” ביל כהן היה סטודנט אשר אני והקולגות שלי למדנו ממנו לפחות כפי שיכולנו ללמד אותו”.

ד"ר ביל כהן הוא נשיא המכון לאמנות המנהיגות, מייסד ונשיא לשעבר של המכון ללימודי ניהול מתקדם בקליפורניה CIAM וחבר בצוות המומחים של קבוצת ד"ר עדנה פשר שות'

קבוצת ד"ר עדנה פשר ושות' היא הנציגה הבלעדית של תוכנית CIAM בישראל

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