What Skills do you Look for in a Manager?

I reflected on how I understood management. Management is often defined as getting work done through resources such as people and equipment. However, I was starting to understand that a real manager develops people through work. Through work, ordinary people can achieve extraordinary results. I assumed a lot of great Biblical leaders could be considered managers, but I wanted to determine the top traits the Lord looks for in managers. I had brought the Lord a magazine clipping I had from a survey several years ago that highlighted what conduct employees were most concerned about with managers. I gave the clipping to the Lord, and it had the following statistics employees were concerned with:

Playing favorites                                         23%

Not following through on promises   21%

Not listening to concerns                       21%

Not providing regular feedback           20%

Not keeping employees motivated      17%

The Lord looked at the list and nodded. After he finished reading, I asked:

“What skills do you look for in managers?”

“When Moses was given advice by Yitro on who to appoint, he suggested that they be capable men, who fear me, are trustworthy, and who spurn ill-gotten gains. Capable men does not mean those with technical skills, but men and women, who have the strength and character to make hard and right decisions. Fearing me is not associated with just fear of what I can do, but also fear of disappointing me. If a manager does not fear me, they are not going to fear any person. Managers need to fear me and should fear others. Managers should have a healthy fear that they will let others down- me and all those around them.”

I never thought about fearing the Lord, but I understood it. We fear the unknown, but we are often more afraid of the known, especially about letting us or others down. However, the list given by Yitro seemed way too short.

“Sam, absent from this list is compassion or being a friend. Compassion is not listed because it can subvert justice. Promoting someone because they feel they deserve the promotion is compassionate, but not just. It would be akin to an ill-gotten gain. The employee who received the promotion should have earned it not because it would make them feel good about themselves. Being a friend might seem like an important skill, but you know what they say, parents should not try to be friends with their children. If a parent attempts to be a friend when times are rough the relationship can splinter. The same applies with managers. Friendships can happen, but that doesn’t mean a manager needs to try and be friends with everyone they manage. Sometimes employees need the tough love that does not come from friendship, but from understanding the best interest of the person and organization.”

I got the point about friendship. I have seen so many toxic relationships when parents have tried to be friends with their children rather than being parents to tell them what is right and wrong. I mean it might be cool to host an alcohol party for teenage kids, but that is so inappropriate, unlawful…just plain stupid. The Lord nodded his head in agreement and reached over to give me a high five. Of course, I gave him a high five in return.

The Lord resumed his answer. “Another important skill for a leader is the ability to accept—no, encourage—criticism. A leader who is a dictator will not listen to anyone who might disagree with them. They surround themselves with ‘yes’ men and women. That is wrong. Abraham challenged me at Sedom and Gemorah. Moses challenged me when I wanted to wipe out the people. Did I get upset with them?  No. I thanked them. Leaders need to encourage constructive criticism to make the organization better.”

I made sure to write in big letters on my notes: criticism is good.

“Sam, not all criticism is good. The key is criticism for the right reason. I encourage dissent among the rabbis if it is for the sake of heaven, meaning the right fight for the right cause. Sam, there are so many skills that I think are important. Another one is communication-both listening and talking. Being a good listener is something I already mentioned. Why was Yitro such an important person, a great father-in-law, a great priest?  He listened. When Yitro left his home to join Moses it was because he heard what had happened. How many people are told something and do not listen?  The key is the perfect blend between listening and talking- and the context between the two.”

The Lord’s ears grew huge, and his lips became almost four feet wide. He made his point. He returned to normal…and continued. I couldn’t help but think the Lord loved having his ears grow big because he had done that several times already.

“When blessing the children of Israel, I provided a priestly blessing. The blessing is still used to this day. It provides as follows: May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord shine his countenance on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift his countenance upon you and establish you in peace (Numbers 6:24-6). While this blessing is still used during holidays, as well as by parents blessing their children every Friday night, many people forget the sentence right before these blessings. I wrote: “Thus shall you bless the children of Israel, speak to them.”  The question that should be asked is: why did I write speak to them?  Isn’t the act of blessing them “speaking” to them?  The answer is that speaking to them might be even more valuable than the actual blessing. By talking with others, we learn more about them and they learn more about us. If you want someone to hear your message, you must become the vessel they want to hear.”

Up on the screen appeared a large vase with big ears. I got the connection- a vessel to listen to.

“Sam, how can you get someone to take you seriously?  First, you must have a conversation with them. You truly must talk and listen…. maybe more listening. Then, you develop a relationship that they have a hard time saying no to. The example I like to use is how to become a great neighbor. You say hi to neighbors every time you see them. You keep your lawn clean. You take care of your trash. You help them whenever they ask. By acting like a mensch, you develop a relationship with that person, and when you speak to them and ask for something, they want to listen. The same applies to the workplace. A manager who has been there for their employees will have a better opportunity to ask for help. Before you can bless others, you must speak to them. Speaking and doing is part of the blessing process. By speaking- through words and actions, you are sanctifying yourself…and sanctifying me.”

Up on the screen popped up a picture of my parents yelling at me from when I was a child.

“Remember when you broke that lamp while playing in your house Sam?”

How could I have forgotten that. I was grounded for a week.

“Yes, I remember that.”

“Do you think your parents did a good job handling that incident?”

“I don’t know. I mean I messed up, so I guess they did the right thing.”

“Well, did they give you a solution. Did they explain what exactly about your conduct got them upset?  Did they give you a chance to respond?  Did they provide any positive feedback?”

“I don’t remember.”

That was when the Lord played the tape back for me. My first reaction was shock. Not shock at what I was seeing, but the fact the Lord had this fine detail on tape. I could imagine the big things on tape, but now he was showing me little things which must mean all my acts were being recorded. I started feeling nauseous. Oh my GOD!!!

“Relax Sam, I have tapes on everyone…and I delete most of them. If you look closely, those are angel actors, like you see on TV commercials where they say, “actor portrayal.”   Your guardian angel shared the play-by-play blow so we could recreate this segment of the interview.”

“Okay…oh so many questions. You knew what I was going to ask? You have so many tapes of me? I have a guardian angel?  You have so many tapes?   YOU HAVE SOOOO MANY TAPES!!!”

The thought of such details and all the bad things I had done over the years brought me to the floor. Literally, I felt like I fainted. The next thing I knew I was being administered smelling salts and waking up. I was still mumbling something about tapes.

“Sam…. Sam… it’s me. The Lord. Are you back with me?”

“I….. oh my!”

“Don’t worry. Why do you think I came to Moses in a burning bush?  If anyone gets all this information at once…well your response was much better than so many others I have talked with.”

I was still thinking about tapes. But how could the Lord have tapes when they were only invented in the last fifty or so years?   Then I remembered his ultimate cloud computing storage…and that he is the Lord.

Then I reverted to the announcement by the Lord that I had a guardian angel. A guardian angel?  That would have been a great thing to hear at the very start of the interview. Was the Lord holding out on me?

“Sam, you’ve heard of the concept of a ‘need to know basis?’  Well, most people could not handle knowing everything that goes on with them, so that is why I try not to disclose too much. If you knew you had a guardian angel before today, would you have done anything differently?  Even those who believe in guardian angels rarely think of them in their day-to-day interactions.”

“I would…”

I stopped right there. I knew the answer. I had probably too great of a young life, and I must have violated so many commandments. My guardian angel was probably so embarrassed by my actions. I would have thought a guardian angel would only watch out to protect someone from major tragedies, but what if they saw what I did daily?  I could say that I have lived my life with no regrets, but an independent third-party observer might conclude otherwise.

“Sam, let me introduce you to Gabriel. He is your guardian angel. He is not the Gabriel you have read about in the Bible. This is Gabriel 347,231.”

In walked an angel who looked…just like me. What a scarry sight…..me, The Lord, and Gabriel all looking the same. It was as if my mom had triplets.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Gabriel.”

“The pleasure is all mine Sam—but we have met before. Many times.”

“What?”

“Yes, remember your goldfish when you were five, the dog you had from age six through 15, and that little annoying mouse in your first apartment…well those were all me.”

The Lord was nodding his head in agreement.

“I prefer the animal form, but I am often a person in a crowd that you might not notice. I will not look like this ever again to you—the Lord’s order—but at least you can place a name with a face….”

Gabriel trailed off because he knew I would be stuck with a name, but never see his face again. It would forever change the way I look at animals again. I remembered watching movies with guardian angels, but never would I have thought that such an angel could actually be an animal.  I shook Gabriel’s hand and thanked him. I did not know what he did, but I am sure he had saved my backside several times.

“437 times to be exact…but who’s counting?” Said Gabriel.

With that, Gabriel turned into a little cockroach and scurried away.

The Lord pretended to try and stomp on Gabriel…the cockroach. He then continued. “Back to you your parents. Sam, they tried their best to correct your behavior when you broke the lamp. They asked you what happened and after you told them the truth, they tried to explain the consequences of running in the house swinging your jump rope and how you must be careful of your actions. But I wanted to convey a more important point. They used a combination of both praise and criticism. They thanked you for being honest and how proud they were that you told the truth. Unfortunately, most parents and managers lean towards more criticism than praise. The righteous tongue should err more toward praise than criticism. In the Bible I write ‘do not rebuke a scoffer lest he hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you.’  Through manipulating the punctuation, we can see one of my hidden meanings- don’t rebuke someone by calling them a scoffer as they will hate you. “Phil, you idiot…you messed up,” will not get you far. On the other hand, if you say, Phil, you are a great worker, so I am sure it was just an oversight that you forgot to turn off the lights. That would probably work so much better. What is the saying, a little honey works a lot better than…well almost anything, as I love honey.”

“Sam, that sweet communication approach is an approach filled with love rather than hatred. In fact, I use the term love throughout the Bible as my ‘gold standard.’  In Exodus and Leviticus, I use the term only twice, in Genesis three times, but in Deuteronomy I use the term 23 times. Love is what needs to be behind all critical speech. Then people will listen and hear. Love does not mean you have to sugarcoat everything or not callout someone who is doing something wrong. There is a difference between managing with love and insuring justice is done. Justice is doing right by someone and criticism that is constructive and designed to correct rather than punish is a form of managerial justice. If you read the Bible, you will find the term ‘justice’ 18 times in Deuteronomy, 16 times in Genesis, five times in Leviticus, and four times in Exodus. The connection in Deuteronomy between love and justice can be found when Moses was re-teaching the Israelites the Bible and recounting all that transpired to date. Moses said, ‘All I did was based on love and what I was demanding was justice.’”

“Sam, besides listening and blessing, it is imperative to know how to talk. I am not talking about any accent or voice lessons. I am talking about how to tell a story. While managers need to be to the point and direct at times, at other times they might need to tell an inspiring story. It is like Coach Knute Rockne when he gave his “Win One for the Gipper” speech to the Notre Dame football players at halftime of the 1928 Army game. To inspire the players, he told them the story of the tragic death of a great Notre Dame player, George Gipp, and tried to inspire his players to victory. His story inspired his team, and they won the game.”

“There are similar stories in the Bible. One example is the servant Eliezer when he traveled to find a wife for his Abraham’s son Issacs. To make his point that there was divine intervention he recounted the entire story to Rebecca’s family. It might not be the story that seals the deal. It could be the passion when telling the story or the language used that can inspire others. The point is that a manager needs to find the right tone and message to reach people and people respond to different messages so some might need a direct command and others might need a story.”

“The Bible has some great stories book and provides me the opportunity to tell some important stories and lessons. However, its primary purpose is as a rule book. I wrote it so people could know and follow some simple laws. However, my book might not resonate as well in today’s day and age. I heard a survey several years ago that found only 14 percent of United States adult could recall all ten commandments. That is sad, but only 71 percent could name even one commandment. The ones that people remember the most were not to murder, steal, or covet. I was so annoyed they did not remember to honor me, nor did they recall to even honor their own parents.”

I could see the frustration in his eyes. He only has been trying to teach the people the Bible for going on 3,000 years or so. If there was any good time for steam to come out of his ears…it was now.

The Lord delivered. It was like two steam engine trains exiting from each side of his head. I knew it was for dramatic effect and the Lord was trying to emphasize a point, but it was sad how we had such a loving and caring father, and we treated him so poorly.

“What made that survey that much more depressing Sam was that 25 percent of the respondents could list the key ingredients in a Big Mac. Argh. But while people had a hard time remembering my laws, they recalled my stories. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, people know that. Moses parting the Red Sea- they know that. King Solomon offered to cut a baby in half, they remember that. Creating the world in seven days…you bet. Sometimes the best way to convey a point is through a story. My prophets had the greatest luck when they used a parable. Nathan used one with King David to show how poorly he had behaved with Batsheva and her husband. People recall stories and that is one of the easiest ways to convey a point. I thought the ten commandments would be easy to recall. Maybe I should have just snuck them into a Harry Potter movie and people would then really remember it.”

God waved an imaginary wand in the air and said “Lumos Maxima,” and a light came from God’s finger.

“Lights camera, action… I loved Harry Potter. Harry was a man of action and was willing to put his neck on the line. I had a similar action hero- the prophet Elijah. In Kings 18:37-39, Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and the people with his offer to give me a sacrifice. He put his money where his mouth was. He said if I did not accept his sacrifice- which he doused with water to make the miracle that much greater- the people could kill him.  All the priests of Baal tried so many tricks, but nothing helped them. Elijah’s unwavering faith in me was all I needed to send a lightning bolt down to consume his sacrifice. I guess I do like to use a lightning bolt occasionally, Sam.”

I fidgeted in my seat. At any moment I could be roasted by the Lord.

He smiled at me.

I knew then I was safe.

“Sam, I think many managers look for and identify problems and problem people. This is in part as there is no person in the world who is 100% good or 100% evil. Every evil person has some good and every saint has some bad. Focusing on the bad rather than the good is what managers need to avoid. This is a reactive process because it is often easier to find problems than to find success. A manager should look for the weakest links, but not to punish them. The weakest link needs to be supported and trained to strengthen them. That is the true role of a manager. A mentor, a protector, a teacher. The analogy I previously used was being a shepherd. One who looks after their flock.”

All these different skills were floating around. I wasn’t sure I would be able to remember them all. How could I mix them together to make sense?

“Sam, I agree with Tom Peters when he said that ‘spending a couple hours in a hot kitchen can teach someone more about management then the latest management books.’  I love the show Hell’s Kitchen…and Cake Boss. I love to cook. I love to work without recipes. That might be how I made some of the weirdest dishes around the world. I do not know what I was thinking. One thing I like is to use hot peppers. Have you ever seen smoke coming out of someone’s ears?  Well, you would when you see me eating a ghost pepper. Yikes!! Speaking of food, are you hungry?”

Out came a cart with drinks and desserts. I guess with all the Lord’s exercising he could afford such sweets. I could not.

“Sam, there are no calories in Heaven.”

The Lord opened a Yahoo! drink and a package of Oreos. If the Lord could snack on them and if there were no calories…I went to town.

I was thinking how so many people count calories. It is one more attempt at seeing who is winning.

“Lord, I have heard time and time again that if it cannot be measured it cannot be managed. Whether it is sales numbers or supply chain hold-ups, people are trying to measure everything so they can monitor things and then hopefully manage things. The more data you have or need the more difficult and confusing the decision will be. I remembered a quote from Henry Mintzberg who said: ‘While hard data may inform the intellect, it is largely soft data that generates wisdom’.”

“Nice one, Sam. Let me first say that data is often used to monitor equipment but can also be used to manage people. Managers can run equipment, but they manage people. A person is not just a number so data sometimes needs to be tempered with compassion. Second, the truth is facts and data are available to everyone. Data is cheap, the right data and knowing how to use it is priceless. The key is the interpretation and implementation of the data. In the old days, hoarding and dolling out information was part of a manager’s or leader’s power base. Such attempts to thwart access to information are counterproductive and harms everyone. Especially with the Internet and the ability to quickly find information, an executive who hoards information will be in serious trouble if they are perceived as a progress blocker. That is why true open book management is so important. The good ‘ole days had a top-down hierarchical system in place to protect those who had information. Such days are long gone with the flattening of business structures due to technology. Moses was great with that strategy. After all the money was collected to build the Tabernacle, he built the Tabernacle and then gave a public accounting of every single expenditure.”

Up on the screen popped up an image of Moses sitting at a table with a visor counting out the shekels given to build the tabernacle.

The Lord continued. “Information in the hands of the many is the new power base for consumers and organizations alike. The key for information is that it should not be used as a means to an end, but to identify the truth. Facts need to be attacked head on through research to find the truth. Managers though need to know that they can never have all the information and research by its very nature will always be incomplete. That is why at certain points the search for more information needs to end and a decision needs to be made.”

Up on the screen was a motivational poster … be a person of action. I was getting it. Managers need to act- no paralysis by analysis.

“Managers need data as well as knowledge. Knowledge is required to obtain the data, analyze the data, and then take actions based on the data. I love a quote from Diane Ravitch who said: ‘The person who knows “how” will always have a job. The person who knows “why” will always be the boss.’  That is so true. There is so much information out there that people can drown in the data. The key is synthesizing the right data and making the right decision. How do managers learn to make the right decisions?  Often by making the wrong decision. The Bible is replete with examples of people who made wrong decisions- and then how they and others learned from those decisions. King David was full of wrong decisions. He was successful, but just imagine how much more successful he would have been if it were not for all his wrong decisions. He admitted his faults and bad decisions, and they are often eloquently contained in numerous psalms. In contrast, Rachel used the data she knew about her sister Leah to save her sister’s reputation and allow her to marry Rachel’s future husband. That is a great example of knowing the possible ramifications yet proceeding to do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Her husband though made mistakes based on bad data. For example, Jacob castigated his first-born son Rueben for moving his mother’s bed. He took this as a violation of Jacob’s handmaid, but it was a son who wanted to protect his mother’s (Leah’s) reputation and honor. Jacob never forgave Rueben and I think that is a blot on Jacob for not moving ahead and trying to repair his relationship with Reuben- and other sons. The blessings he gave his sons on his death bed show that while he wanted them all to succeed, he harbored feelings from episodes in the past and one thing that every manager can learn from this is the data is the data, but sometimes we must move beyond that to the person and forgive them for everyone to move forward in a constructive manner.”

I had never thought about the family dynamics and how grudges lasted so long. The same issues arise in so many workplaces. I remembered how I had a dispute with one of my colleagues. I took the high road by not acknowledging him anymore. When we passed in the hallways, we did not even make eye contact. We only talked when it was critical. Now that I look back, I took the low road and helped create an even more toxic environment. What was I, a little kid who got his feelings hurt?  The better response would have been to hash out the issue. If it could not be a repaired relationship, well at least I tried. But if it could be repaired, who knows where it could have led to?

The Lord looked at me with those parental eyes that said I just caught you doing something wrong.

“Sam, often managers are like kindergarten teachers. They are forced to deal with childish temper tantrums that people should have outgrown years ago. Why can’t people just grow up?”

The Lord was shaking his head. I assumed He knew the answer to his question. He also probably knew that in thousands of years people have not changed nor will they ever change. They will always focus on the wrong rather than the right. Any misdeed or perceived slight are grounds for a battle. That is not a godly approach. That is not a holy approach. That never solved any problems. I guess one of the best skills would be to follow the Gambler’s lead and as Kenny Rogers sang, you need to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away, know when to run…”  To be a manager you had to be a gambler, but a smart gambler willing to take the right risks, read the room, act on the information, and hope that your fear of God will help you win.