Lead and manage people
How to be a good manager, as taught by people who have done it. One sales leader shows a one-on-one split into ten-minute blocks, and another speaker lists four kinds of meetings every team needs. Giving feedback by asking questions replaces the old sandwich method. 10 picks from the Bez Tytułu newsletter, in reading order.
The picks
Genuine, personal one-on-ones work best
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #31
A five-times VP of sales says one-on-ones work best when they are genuine and mostly personal, with a clear future focus.
A sales leader who has been a VP five times describes a one-on-one with ten minutes each for personal, professional, and future topics. In practice, personal talk takes about 15 minutes and professional about 5. The future part asks what the person wants to improve, what they could do in seven days, what measurable milestone would show progress, and how the manager can help.
Key points- In practice, he says the one-on-one ends up about fifteen minutes personal
- Keep professional topics and complaints short, then move to the future
- Ask what to get better at, what could help in seven days, and how you can help
Teams need four distinct kinds of meetings
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #207
Teams need four distinct kinds of meetings, because cramming them into one meeting makes bad meetings.
The speaker argues that bad meetings make bad companies and that teams need four kinds. Brief daily check-ins let leaders share what they are doing, while a weekly tactical meeting reviews priorities marked green, yellow or red, a method credited to Alan Mulally at Ford. Ad hoc strategic meetings tackle big problems at length, and quarterly offsites take teams away from the office for half a day to two days.
Key points- A daily five-minute leadership check-in asks what everyone is doing today
- A weekly tactical meeting reviews priorities marked green, yellow or red
- Ad hoc strategic problem-solving needs its own time, not slots in tactical meetings
Ask what is behind missed goals in feedback
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #139
Open feedback by asking what is behind missed goals, rather than burying the issue in praise.
A speaker criticizes the sandwich method of praise, criticism, then praise, since people miss the point. Instead, open with a question about why goals are delayed and let the person diagnose the cause, such as poor time management. If someone reacts defensively, the speaker suggests naming the reaction, giving time to think or asking for a written response, and treating feedback as a mirror.
Key points- Avoid a praise sandwich that hides the real problem
- Open with a worry about delayed deadlines and ask what is going on
- Asking for reasons avoids blame and gives people a chance to explain
A manager's eleven baseline promises
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #45
A manager's eleven promises, like never cancelling one-on-ones and no surprise feedback, are baseline behaviors any good manager should show.
The speaker shares a thread in which a manager lists 11 promises to their team, including a weekly one-on-one that is never cancelled, an agenda in every invite, personal delivery of major news, and feedback that is never a surprise. The speaker says these are a low bar but describes them as the kind of manager they would want to be.
Key points- Weekly one-on-ones are never cancelled, and every meeting states its agenda up front
- Big news comes directly from the manager, and feedback is never heard for the first time in reviews
- Trust people to manage their own time and to skip-level without clearing it first
Four factors behind great teamwork
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #201
The speaker says 15 years of research point to four factors behind great teamwork.
Vince Sanderson, who helps companies build leadership and management skills, says 15 years of research points to four factors of effective teamwork. The first is a compelling direction with clear goals, the second is a strong structure with a mix of characters and skills, and the third is a supportive context where people feel trusted, valued and heard. The fourth is a shared mindset built from common goals and support.
Key points- A compelling direction gives the team a clear goal that energizes it
- Strong structure means a mix of characters and skill sets
- Supportive context from managers and peers makes people feel seen and trusted
Leadership is vision and persuasion, not management
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #50
Management sets goals and manages people to deliver them, while leadership is vision, and the leader's art is persuasion.
The speaker separates management from leadership. Management means setting a series of goals and directing people to deliver them, which is important but is not leadership. Leadership is about vision, sometimes a vision only the leader can see, and the leader's task is to persuade people to believe in it and help deliver it.
Key points- Management is about setting goals and managing people to deliver them
- Leadership is about vision, sometimes a vision only the leader can see
- The leader's art is persuading people to believe in the vision and help deliver it
Young employees can show leaders the future
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #220
Reverse mentoring lets young employees show leaders the future, the speaker says, using his daughter's edit of his keynote as proof.
A speaker argues that older leaders get caught in an age bubble and should use reverse mentoring to learn from younger colleagues, who are closer to the future. As an example, he describes his 25-year-old daughter, who offered to give his keynote at her high school. She cut his 300-slide deck to 27 slides, discarding about 90 percent of it as irrelevant.
Key points- Young people joining a company are closer to the future than leaders will ever be
- The speaker's 25-year-old daughter reworked his 300-slide keynote for her school
- She cut it to 27 slides, dropping 90% of what he had called relevant
How to be a great leader
Short · instagram.com · Issue #168
A short Instagram post on how to be a great leader.
Four leadership lessons from Marcus Aurelius
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #144
The speaker draws four leadership lessons from Marcus Aurelius: find a mentor, never complain, guard against power, stay a student.
The speaker draws four leadership lessons from Marcus Aurelius. He studied for about 20 years under the emperor Antoninus and treated it as an apprenticeship, so the speaker urges finding a mentor. Aurelius did not complain, even privately. He guarded against being changed by power, and he remained a student of leadership and life.
Key points- Marcus studied under his stepfather Antoninus for almost twenty years
- Leadership comes with perks and responsibilities, so do not complain
- Guard against being changed by position, like being dyed purple
Musk's management skips the chain of command
Short · instagram.com · 1 min · Issue #237
Marc Andreessen describes Elon Musk's management style: talk only to engineers, skip the chain of command, and attack the biggest bottleneck.
Marc Andreessen describes Elon Musk's management approach, which bypasses the chain of command and middle management. Musk talks only to engineers and each week gets involved in the most important bottleneck, staying up with the engineers until it is fixed. Without a bottleneck, he holds engineering reviews where each engineer presents for five minutes, and he fires people who are not good.
Key points- Each week, find the single biggest bottleneck and work with its engineers until fixed
- Hold engineering reviews where each engineer presents for five minutes
- Fire people who are not good, and go all out to keep the great ones