Category Archives: business

First Line Manager: What process in your job is not important?

“What process in your job is not important?” is the most important question to ask your employees. You must ask this question now and then. You need them to do a process, you need to know to change it or drop … Continue reading

Posted in business, People | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on First Line Manager: What process in your job is not important?

First Line Manager: The Key to Greatness Is Enabling Not Delegating.

I keep trying to get a university to realize first line management is different from upper management, to no avail. Lately, I spoke to a fraternity brother of mine, an associate dean of a management school. John told me they … Continue reading

Posted in business, Jim's Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on First Line Manager: The Key to Greatness Is Enabling Not Delegating.

The First Line Manager: The Corporate Answer to Your Problem Cannot Be “No”

My area manager sends a message to a corporate customer service system expert. He asks the question about how to prevent a recurring field service problem. When his field service crew removes a customer meter for operation purposes the meter … Continue reading

Posted in business, Jim's Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on The First Line Manager: The Corporate Answer to Your Problem Cannot Be “No”

First Line Manager: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate, the Issue Is Who and How

A large company’s president is making a summary closing for his top executives. He has several items to focus on during the year. He gets to one goal; communicate, communicate, communicate. When he starts discussing the goal, his executive vice … Continue reading

Posted in business, Jim's mistakes | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on First Line Manager: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate, the Issue Is Who and How

The First Line Manager: You Have Got to Have Passion About Our Business

A President of a major electric utility summarized his executive team meeting with the following statement. He stated, “You have got to be excited about what we do, you got to feel that. You have got to have passion for … Continue reading

Posted in business, Jim's Philosophy, People | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on The First Line Manager: You Have Got to Have Passion About Our Business