The Fourth of July is a time for both celebration and remembering. It commemorates the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain and is celebrated with fireworks, barbeques, and parties. For the most part, the Fourth of July celebrations result in a renewed view of what it means to be an American. By now you are asking yourself, how does that fit into a management website?
To me, it means that the kid decided to strike out on their own to do something independent of their parent. The worker has become the manager with total responsibility for how their area of responsibility looks. It has been an up and down exploration of human rights, democratic government, and more importantly the ideas of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Not much different than the up and down journey of managing people.
We fight amongst ourselves over the meaning of these words and theories. We fight amongst ourselves on how to practically apply our theories through laws and policy. Spirited debate and disagreement are at the core of who we are, and they are to be encouraged because they make us better people.
Debate and disagreement make us look deep and really explore our thoughts on a topic. How does it apply to managing people? Things change, consistently, and flexibility of thought should be developed.
Over the next few days, I am going to ask you to contemplate a couple of things:
- Have you thought about your role in your organization lately?
- Managers and leaders live in this unsettled gray area. How do you respond to uncertainty?
- Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness are values embedded in our constitution. How do they apply to the environment that you create for your employees?
Happy Fourth of July everyone. Stay safe, stay healthy, enjoy the time off!
