Leaders OR managers. Respected OR liked.
Arggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Most of the life of a boss isn’t a choice between two alternatives, one of
which is good and the other of which is not. Your job is often about doing more
than one thing. Consider these pairs.

Accomplish the mission and care for the people. Those are
your two prime directives. Great bosses do both, not one or the other.

Respected and liked. Lots of great bosses are both respected
and liked. There’s no reason why you can’t be one of them.

Develop strengths and make weaknesses irrelevant. Building
on your strength and the strengths of your team members is a great way to
develop your upside potential. But you have to make weaknesses irrelevant, too,
or you’re building on a shaky foundation.

Today and tomorrow. Sure you’ve got to handle today’s
challenges, but part of your job is preparing for tomorrow by helping your team
and team members develop knowledge and skills.

How much and also how. It’s important to make your numbers,
but how you do it is equally important.

Talk the talk and walk the walk. You must set the example
for your team, but you must be explicit about your expectations and values, too.
You can’t just let them watch you and guess.

Leadership and management and supervision. Those are three
kinds of work and, if you’re a boss, you have to do all three.

Boss’s Bottom Line

One of the things that makes your job challenging and, therefore, fun is the
number of things you must balance every day.