The mindset of a person in a higher position than you is vastly different than the one you possess. Misconceptions about the day-to-day thoughts of managers, leaders, and individuals above you serve to keep you from either obtaining those positions or respecting the individuals that are currently in them. Here I discuss how to view those in higher positions than you in a way that doesn’t leave you out of the loop or able to progress smoothly:
First Imagine Yourself As The More Esteemed Individual
What you first need to do to get a better sense of the regular thinking of the person or people who are above you in rank, position, power, or class, is to imagine yourself in their shoes. What are they focused on that you aren’t focused on? One of the first things you would imagine is that they see you under them as a small variable to worry about. Although you might be huge in your own head, you would be a relatively minor point in their thoughts. When you take on this hypothetical viewpoint, you realize that leading other people is not as complicated as it might look.
Think About The Extra Tools They Have
People in higher positions have tools that are not available to you. These tools make their leadership much easier to maintain, as they allow them to maintain a greater watch over the members of their field, and correct problems with much more ease.
One example would be of a person working in a finance/accounting office. Let’s say there are ten people working in it and nine of them are under the manager of the group. Each of the nine people tends to their own functions, but is limited in their ability. As one of the nine people, you would know your duty, but would not have access to certain powers and information that the manager does. That specific power and information is probably what the manager focuses on for most of the day, since that represents what his managerial presence is most made for. Therefore, those certain special abilities and duties are regular to the manager, so his mindset is far different from your own.
Higher-Level People Learn More And At A Faster Pace
In another way, the manager also builds up ability much more quickly. The greatest pressures and problems to go the leader or manager. They see the worst from customers, including the most clever tricks to use the company, or manipulative measures to give the company a bad reputation. Although this would seem like a terrible occurrence, pressure is where growth comes from, so the large amount of pressure on the leading manager shapes him into a stronger individual at a quicker pace. Lower-level individuals are not able to grow as quickly because the largest issues are not directed at them(usually because they think they are not ready to handle them).
Two Points From This To Take Action Upon
This information leads to two actionable points: have high respect for people in high positions, regardless of their category or subject of leadership, and also aim to place yourself in higher positions as soon as possible. On the first note, it makes sense to treat them as highly reputable individuals, because their position above you means that they handle everything you handle plus more. This is not something to be disappointed about, but to instead recognize and appreciate. People in higher positions are only to be attacked through competition, and not through harsh words.
How David Allen Discussed This
In his “Getting Things Done Fast” audio-book series, David Allen brought up this concept by talking about a younger worker who said something to the effect of “If only I was promoted to manager, I would have it much easier than I do now”, with David’s response being something like “Sure thing kid, come on and try”. David was pointing out that the regular perception of upper management being lazy people that somehow got into their position by chance has negligible validity in actual businesses that are currently prosperous. A manager that doesn’t know the foundational material will quickly look foolish and get fired when a pressure-filled situation shows up.
Your Time Is Worth More The Higher Up You Are
As far as the second note about actionable items to take from this information, it serves you well to rise to the next level sooner more than later. One minute in a higher position might be worth five minutes in a lower position. When an opportunity comes up to move up or aggrandize in some way, keep the value of your time in mind to use against your mind’s worry that the pressure or level of competency required would be too much for you to accept more responsibility.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
“Therefore, those certain special abilities and duties are regular to the manager, so his mindset is far different from your own.”
I object to the phrase “Special abilities”, which to me sounds like slang for “magic powers”, but I do hear your point that a manager’s mindset would be different than a non-managers, and that the non-manager does not necessarily know what the manager has to go through. At the same time, the mangers often are unaware of what the workers have to go through. (Which is a big reason why many wonders wonder why the work that they do doesn’t get justly rewarded… just because you as a worker did something useful, doesn’t mean that the managers know that you did it and that they know the extent of the effort and struggle you had to go through to do it.)
Thus, in real world organizations, there is often alot of mutual cluelessness going on (workers being fairly clueless as to what mangers do, and mangers being fairly clueless as to what workers do), which invariably leads to nonsense and inefficiency.
“This information leads to two actionable points: have high respect for people in high positions, regardless of their category or subject of leadership, and also aim to place yourself in higher positions as soon as possible.”
I agree with the second point but not the first. Respect is not given (a title only states an intent; it is the person behind the title that has to live up to that intent). Respect is not even earned (which would make respect an emotional based thing, when it should be a reason-based thing). Respect, real rational respect, is proven.
For example: If a mugger comes at you with a loaded gun in his hand pointed at your head, you respect that mugger’s ability to kill you. You don’t care what the mugger’s official title is. You don’t care how many times you’ve seen that mugger before and all the muggings that he’s done in the past. You just know… that mugger with that gun can kill you. That is rational respect.
Another example: If you, as an unknown, step into the ring and go the distance with the heavyweight boxing champion (As Rocky Balboa did in the original Rocky), then you’ve *proven* that your boxing skills are to be respected. And it didn’t take a dozen fights; it took just one fight against top competition.
However, most people do not think this way. Most people are not rational about respect. Thus, when dealing with other people, expect their respect to be given in an emotional and ego-based manner unless they have shown you otherwise.
Going back to the quote… “have high respect for people in high positions, regardless of their category or subject of leadership”. I disagree. Respect the position, yes. Respect that the person is human being, yes. But, if the person shows they are unworthy of the responsibilities of that position, do not respect them in that position, for that is against truth, and going against truth isn’t going to help you.
And if you expect an unworthy person in a position of power to be useful in that position, you’ll find out when the time comes that they are not useful… and that your ‘respect’ for them turned out to be a hindrance to you…. an experience that has happened to be more than once in my life, and one that I don’t intend to prevent in the future.
A direct example of this: My brother is an expert when it comes to computer hardware. He successfully ran a hardware store for several years. Thus, I’ve come to rely on his opinion when it comes to computer hardware, having complete faith in him making the right decisions in that regard.
Jut the other week, I decided to upgrade the memory in my computer. So, naturally I asked my brother, and he just gave me some comments on how it had to be done in a certain way. Yesterday, after repeated requests and inaction on my brothers part, I decided to take a look at my motherboard myself and find out for myself what the memory possibilities are. (Background note: I do things like swap hard drives all the time, but I haven’t learned about the motherboard and memory because there are a number of technical factors to consider there and my brother is an expert in that; so the logical thing to do (I thought), was to not worry about it and just defer to his wisdom and experience on that.)
As I was saying… yesterday I check my motherboard and learn what types of memory it accepts, and look at when spare parts we have… and it turns out that ALL THIS TIME, we’ve had better, larger memory cards sitting about that were compatible with my motherboard. So I ask my brother why he didn’t put the better memory cards into my computer or at least tell me that they compatible… and his response was that he didn’t like the way I had my computer configured. Furthermore, if I had configured my computer the way he preferred… Surprise! He would have “found” more memory to put in it. That’s right, because I didn’t have MY computer configured exactly how HE wanted it, he sadistically decided to withhold information form me, information that I had trusted him to be skilled and honest about.
Oh, my brother is skilled when it comes to computer hardware, but he’s not honest about it; his invented and imagined ego is more important. So I will not be relying on him for hardware decisions in the future, but merely using him as an advisor, and taking his advice with a grain of salt.
Returning again to the original point… “have high respect for people in high positions, regardless of their category or subject of leadership”. No. That misplaced respect will come back to hurt you. I suggest instead: do all you can to get to the rational truth behind the matter, and respect science and reason.
However, while experience has shown me that respect to unworthy people will hurt you, experience has also shown me that it is frequently prudent to show courtesy to unworthy people in positions of power, because showing discourtesy offends their egos so much that it will often cause them to revert into a lose/lose attack mode in order to protect their ego (which is so wound up in the trappings of the position they are nominally occupying). And while a battle with and tearing down overtitled people may be emotionally satisfying, it is generally not what is best for the organization, for your cause, or for you… unless it is strategic.
In other words, if you’re gonna fight some doofus or jerkoff in a position of power that they don’t deserve… fight to win, and fight strategically. And by fight to win I mean: fight to remove them from that position. With my brother his ‘power’ in relation to me was simply what I chose to give to him… so taking it away was easy…. but with unworthy or corrupt people in organizations, taking away their unworthy power can be rather difficult and time consuming. (But, if the organization is significant, it is usually worth it in the long run.) And remember that fighting one corrupt person will cause their corrupt buddies to come out of the woodwork… evil birds of a feather flock together… so, depending on the corruption level of the organization that you are dealing with, be prepared for a possibly long and uphill fight. But remember that, if you right for what is right, you will have good on your side… and you will usually have the letter of the law on your side as well (most laws do serve the greater good when interpreted honestly). And having goodness on your side will gain you many willing allies, even if you don’t know where they are yet.
Wow! I didn’t realize that I had so much to say about this! And I could keep on typing more and more, but I think that’s a good place to stop for now.
Karl: You have brought up many points here. I am sure viewers will see some information to take from your examples.