The Future Manager by Lynda Gratton

I think, particularly as a manager, we have to have something that’s valuable and difficult to imitate.  And the challenge with the future is that artificial intelligence and technology, in many ways, gets rid of the job of the manager.  In fact, I’ve written an article that got a lot of press called “The Death of the Middle Manager.”  And what I argued is that actually Gen Y don’t want to be managed, and if you think your job is about being the conduit for information, well, open innovation gets rid of that because everyone can talk to everybody else.  And if you think your job is about collecting information and assimilating it, giving it out again, well, artificial intelligence can do that.  If it’s not doing it now, it will in the future.  So actually, potentially, the job as a middle manager disappears.

So what then should we be doing?  The point I want to make is that the interesting research on technology shows that actually what technology does is it gets rid of a lot of the simple jobs but it also requires people conceptually to think, to imagine, to articulate, and so the marvelous thing about the future, potentially, is the manager’s job becomes more interesting because more of it either can be done by team members, or can be done by artificial intelligence, or can be done by technology.  And so I think that being good at something really is important because if you want to manage others, they have to believe that there’s something about you that they can learn from.

So management becomes as much about coaching and training as it is about supervising.  But to be a coach or a trainer, you have to know something well, and to know something well, you have to become a master of it.  And to become a master, you have to be prepared to put in the hours to learn something and to be coached and to apprentice yourself.

One of the things that worries me about our contemporary life is that shows like America’s Got Talent makes you think that everyone can be famous and it doesn’t take much to be talented.  Well, that just is not the case.  You have to work hard to actually learn something and to gain mastery.

So one of the questions I would invite people to think about is, what do I love doing?  What do I have that others don’t have?  And what am I prepared to do to get better at that?  What would it take for me to master that skill, that network, that set of ideas?  And if you can do that, then that puts you in a very, very good position for the future

COMPLETE and FINISHED

No English dictionary has been able to adequately explain the difference between the two words COMPLETE and FINISHED.

Some people say there is no difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED.

However, there is a difference:
When you marry the right woman / man, you are COMPLETE.

And when you marry the wrong woman / man, you are FINISHED.

And when the right one catches you with the wrong one, you are COMPLETELY FINISHED!

Before and After Marraige

Before Marriage

Boy – At last, I can hardly wait!

Girl - Do you want me to leave?

Boy – NO! Don’t even think about it.

Girl – Do you love me?

Boy – Ofcourse! Always.

Girl – Have you ever cheated on me?

Boy – NO! Why are you even asking?

Girl – Will you hug me?

Boy – Every chance I get!

Girl – Will you hit me?

Boy – No way, are you crazy!

Girl – Can I trust you?

Boy – Yes!

Girl – Dear!

After Marriage: Read from bottom back to top

Friendship...

Friendship between Women:

A woman didn’t come home one night.

The next day she told her husband that she had slept over at a friend’s house

The man called his wife’s 10 best friends, none of them knew about it.

Friendship between Men:

A man didn’t come home one night.

The next day he told his wife that he had slept over at a friend’s house.

The woman called her husband’s 10 best friends.

Eight of them confirmed that he had slept over, and two claimed that he was still there.

Who loves you the BEST?

“Who loves you the best in the world?” I would hear my Dad ask in a playful tone. “Mom does.” I would say jokingly knowing it was my Dad who did. That’s what I would hear my whole childhood day-after-day from the man who cared so much for me and showed love in so many other ways than the ‘typical’ ways of other adults.

My Dad is a man who works hard, sometimes too hard. He’s always there for me when I need him. For example if I’m at a friend’s house on a Sunday (which is a day that he works on) I would call up his mobile phone and ask him if he could pick me up from a friend’s house. “Of course,” he would say. The typical way of showing one’s love is expressing it but saying it, and by buying things for the person receiving the love. My Dad’s different. In my earlier years I would wake my Dad up and say, “Dad, I’m hungry, could you make me something to eat?”

“Sure, what a question,” he would say happily. “How about a piece of steak and some eggs,” would be his next line. “Well, ummm, I’m not sure about that Dad, it would be too much trouble,” I would say without listening to my tummy rumbling. “Don’t worry about it,” would be his reply. At night before going to sleep he would come into my room and say, “How about a cup of tea before you go to bed, hey Benjin the Engine?” I used to hate the way he would call me that, instead of my real name Benji, but now thinking back he wasn’t trying to make me irritated; he was just expressing his love the way he expresses it.

On Saturday, my Dad’s only rest day he would come up to me and say, “How about a game of cricket.” Yes Dad that will be great,” I would reply happily. On the days that he was too tired to play he would say, “Yeah sure I’ll play.” My Mom would come and call me to the side and explain that my Dad was just too tired to play but could not say no to me. He always had and has time for me.
As time flew by I started to become a teenager, and with a teenager came independence and what seemed to me as a childish game over food became a stupid idea. He would come into my room and say, “How about a milo before you go to bed”. “Thanks but no thanks,” I would reply angrily, not thinking about the thought behind his actions.

Thinking back I realized I was a bit tough with him. He didn’t want to make me upset he was just expressing his love the way he expresses it. When I was sick in hospital recently for depression he would come after a hard day’s work at about seven o’clock and stay up-to three hours with me, leaving at about 10′ o clock to go home for dinner. “Please Dad, I love it when you stay with me but I know you need your sleep”, I would say encouragingly. “Don’t worry about it,” he would say happily. On the days he didn’t work he would come and spend the whole day with me. “Give Dad a smile,” he would say encouragingly. “Dad, at the moment I can’t smile.” I would say. “Please just one smile and then I won’t ask again,” he would say playfully. After that I couldn’t help smiling.

I wrote this to thank all the fathers out there, but I especially wrote this to thank my Dad. The one who would make me food late at night. The one who would sit by my bed in my time of greatest and least of needs. He who couldn’t say no to his son. The one who would call me “Benjin the Engine.”