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Salesmen, Managing sales
An Example Of Micro Managing
By Jim Whelan
Monday, September 3, 2007
Years ago I worked for a micro manager. To put it mildly, the MM was a major pain in the butt. I was a holdover manager from the last regime, and I wasn't one of his handpicked lieutenants, so we had a rocky relationship from day one.
The first thing the MM did was cultivate personal relationships with my subordinates, and urge them to call him whenever they needed help. He had a whole list of reasons he would give for this, but first and foremost he wanted to undermine my relationship with them.
Basically, he wanted them to call him first, and have them tell him what was going on, so he could call me and ask me why I didn't know that, being their boss and all. Some of my people played ball with him, and some didn't. Those who stuck with me got rewarded, and those who played in his sandbox didn't. Pretty soon everybody was back, except for one woman who stayed with him.
At every management meeting I was berated because none of my people called him. I would act concerned, but I never did anything about it.
He also had other managers report every word I spoke to him, and I would send them back with many a tall tale. When he would call and try to verify some of this stuff, I would ask him what putz told him that.
This game went on for a couple of years, and it grew more and more tense. He wanted desperately to get rid of me, and I hung on just to irritate him.
I eventually left to start my own business.
I read a story this morning that reminded me of the whole thing.
A rookie pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, Clay Buchholz, threw a no hitter yesterday in only his second major league start.
That's quite an accomplishment.
The General Manager of the Red Sox, Theo Epstein, was on the phone with the Manager, Terry Francona, in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. After the game Epstein told reporters that if Buchholz had reached 120 pitches, he would have been pulled from the game.
(Buchholz finished at 115 pitches)
Now Epstein is regarded as one of the best GMs in the game. But what he said doesn't make any sense at all. None. Nada. Zippo.
It was an attempt for him to put his mark on something that had absolutely nothing to do with him. Boston was ahead 10-0. Even if the rookie surrendered a couple of runs, (which he didn't), he deserved to finish the game.
Nobody really needed Epstein's involvement as the game progressed. I'm sure Francona was just giving Epstein the old "uh huh", just as I used to give my old boss.
Commenting on Epstein's remarks, Francona said, "The only way Theo could have pulled that kid was to have put on a uniform, come to the dugout, and walked to the mound himself." The Red Sox players all echoed that sentiment.
My sentiments exactly.
Sometimes GMs and Sales Managers should quit while they're ahead. Just shut the you-know-what up. When your players are busy hitting home runs or pitching no hitters, the best thing you can be doing is cheering, and offering up a "no comment".
From the big saddle,Jim Whelan
