Moving on from marketing to management

I don't come with the most flattering background, in terms of business education. I have always been a bit of a hustler in school, selling pirated games to the kids. This was back in the day when games were saved on 5.25" floppy disks.

Aside from those fond memories, I have had a fairly technical education. Having said that, a lot of what I learned about marketing was a result of my own reading (in which I did put a real effort) as well as people I have been lucky to cross paths with.

However, I have lately started realizing that my management skills have been rather lacking. The staff feared me more than respected me. We have grown to a little less than 20 people, but I have yet to get a firm grasp on managing the most valuable (if not the only) resource a services-based company has. Its people.

I reluctantly parted with my AED 49/- to purchase a copy of the tiny 'The One Minute Manager' book. I don't know if I regret this purchase or not. However, it did give me some insights into what I have been doing as a manager and what I could and should be doing.

I held a meeting earlier today and explained to the staff what I intended to do and how I planned to go about it. I am not getting much reaction from the staff. So, let's hope this 'one minute manager' stuff works. I really want it to.