Lucy Kellaway

If you’ve picked up a Financial Times, from time to time, you may have been introduced to Lucy Kellaway. I discovered her while wondering around iTunes looking for interesting PodCasts. And interesting is just one tiny word to describe my journey with Lucy Kellaway.

I know I’m opening myself to plenty by suggesting that she’s my modern equivalent to business that Luther was to the Catholic Church. She’s been a wonderful breath of fresh air, forcing me to be honest about business today. Forcing me to be honest as a consultant working with people who are ‘in there’ each and every day trying their best to make it all work.

Apart from finding the courage to find a way to invite her to South Africa, I’ve also spent a fair amount of energy and headspace wondering plenty about her philosophies around how business works?

My colleague in the UK, Julie, sent me a link to Lucy Kellaway’s book (didn’t know she had one) and somewhere down the page was her stab at how she sees business things.

What exactly are my ‘basic ideas’ on management?

After a bit of thought I have come up with the following observations and generalities. They are, of course, glaringly obvious. But then management ideas are obvious. Any that aren’t obvious tend to be wrong.

Rule 1 Management is one of the most difficult jobs going, and is harder now than ever because the challenges are greater.

Rule 2 Most people are bad at managing, some are very bad. Hardly anyone can do it well.

Rule 3 Good managers need to be both hard and soft, decent and ruthless, good at the big picture and at the small detail.

Rule 4 In view of the above, the market for management consultants, trainers, gurus, business schools and business books is expanding, apparently without limit.

Rule 5 While most of the management help industry is of dubious value, managers do need the experience and advice of wise outsiders. But to follow that advice blindly – as many companies do – is, of course, idiotic.

Rule 6 Any new management technique that comes with a catchphrase is suspect. It almost certainly will not suit the company in question, and even if it does, the management will probably fail to apply it properly.

Rule 7 It is hard to teach a middle-aged dog new tricks. People who are rotten communicators do not become better by virtue of having been on a course, or read a book. Improving and changing is a long, painful slog.

Rule 8 People like security. They like to be told what to do. Empowerment and flat structures are over-rated.

Rule 9 All work is tedious for much of the time. If everyone accepts this, then so much the better.

That is the short answer. The long answer is this book, which is based on five years of writing a management column for the Financial Times.

So question 2 has been answered. Now to solve getting her to SA : )

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