Understanding Your Impact

from 10/31/2005 issue of Newsweek, Why Bad Managers Do Matter:

Bad bosses get a lot of abuse from workers but not much attention from economists. Now, however, a new study by McKinsey & Co. and the Centre for Economic Performance in London says the quality of corporate management accounts for at least 20 percent of the difference between a highly productive national economy and a sluggish one. Even between countries with similar economic policies, like the United States and Britain, better management is responsible for 15 percent of America's 25 percent edge in hourly output.

After grading the operations and internal policies of more than 700 companies, McKinsey found that the best managers are concentrated in industries such as technology and finance, where intense competition weeds out the slackers. Better management often goes hand in hand with light labor regulation, but not always: German managers excelled in supervising day-to-day operations despite complex labor rules, while some managers in the hire-and-fire culture of Britain were the worst of the entire lot.

—John Sparks © 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

The underlying question, here, is this: To what extent is your managerial style increasing your company's hourly output ... or decreasing it?

• How would you answer the question?
• How would your boss answer the question?
• How would your staff answer the question?
• How would your peers answer the question?
• How would your customers answer the question?

Don't guess; find out. Because everyone HAS an impact, whether they realize it or not. Once you understand the kind of impact you're having, you can then decide if it's the kind of impact you want to be having.