Management 101

I had to learn to be a manager. I had no role models or mentors. In fact, there wasn't even any self-help books, videos, cassette tapes, CD's or anything of the sort when I first became a manager at the ripe old age of 19 in the early '70's. The role models we had were our dads, coaches, and teachers. They were of the WW II generation, and all they knew, for the most part, was military command and control. Strict order given and orders followed, no questions asked.

When I was promoted to management, I was just assigned to the task because no one else wanted to work on salary. That was retail's modus operandi, give someone who was a good worker a title, some authority, which one wanted, but in turn, work them long hours and cover for every subordinate's missed work. Retail had little to offer one. There were long hours, nights, weekends, holidays, and low wages. There were some perks like free health insurance (gotta love the good old days). There were additionally store discounts (if you could afford much extra on the wages they paid).

Of course, retail in the '70s was either an entry-level or dead-end job. So you were working with unskilled and or unmotivated folks. There were the deadbeats who couldn't find a better means of employment, usually due to a lack of education or skill sets that were worth more in the free market. I had neither, so when in hindsight I thought I was climbing the ladder I was going down the sliding board.

All this to set the stage of how I learned to manage. I had to be creative to find and hire the right talent. Usually, that meant some diamonds in the rough that were drifting without any idea what they wanted to be when they grew up. I would manage them by helping them improve themselves and develop skill sets that would benefit them when they did find a decent career path. I told them you are working for You, Inc. Everything you can learn adds to your value. Everyday skills learned by dealing with customers (and NO they are not always right) and showing up on time. We treated what was usually a dull thankless job into career-building practice. When I say "We", I meant it. There is no "I "in TEAM. There is no"WE" in it either, by the way: that WE part is demonstrated by the leader or manager.

Caring, learning, teaching, nurturing and servant leadership is the education I received in my retail years. I earned my degree in management from the U.of H.K. University of Hard Knocks.