Defining what it takes (or what it means) to be a "good" manager flummoxes business educators and practitioners. That's because it's a subject where "one-size-DOESN'T-fit-all!"
Teaching "soft skills" is the current rage in management education. As you know, everything relating to teams and teamwork is at the top of the list.
But does being a good-listener or a flexible decision-maker correlate with on-the-job success? How do we know what it takes?
Three University of Chicago researchers recently tapped into a motherlode of real-world data that challenges a lot of contemporary management thinking. In brief, they found that what matters is being a little "tough-minded," not soft-around-the-edges. Sure, it helps to be respectful and a good communicator, but they found delivering results takes execution and aggressiveness.
Attached is the Wall Street Journal's story reporting on this study. Read it and think about what it's telling you.
Is management education getting it right? Or are some "hard skills" a little softer than we think? Or, and maybe here's the take-away, to be successful, do you need to have a "bag of tricks" that's full of hard, soft and "just-right" skills?
Enjoy...
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