WEBVTT - How to Take on the Challenge When Asked to Lead

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<v Speaker 1>This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Katie Greifeld and

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<v Speaker 1>I have been in here chatting about what it's like

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<v Speaker 1>to be a manager. And you know what, spoiler alert,

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<v Speaker 1>neither of us are managers. Know somehow, I'm not in

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<v Speaker 1>charge of a single person other than myself. It's probably

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<v Speaker 1>a good thing for both of us. I know, it's

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of work. It's really interesting because it's something

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<v Speaker 1>that Julie Jaal writes about. She's the co founder of

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<v Speaker 1>In Spirit and also the author of the new book

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<v Speaker 1>The Making of a Manager, What to Do When Everyone

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<v Speaker 1>looks to You. Julie joins us this afternoon from the

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<v Speaker 1>Bay Area out west. Julie, how are you. I'm doing great.

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<v Speaker 1>How are you all doing? We're doing well. Thanks. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>Take us back to your mid twenties and when you

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<v Speaker 1>got this promotion and you became a manager. That is

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<v Speaker 1>sort of the genesis of this book. So I was

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<v Speaker 1>years old. I had just joined a scrappy startup three

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<v Speaker 1>years prior. It was a little college social at working

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<v Speaker 1>at the time called Facebook. Heard of it locally for me,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, to start up, grew and grew, and so

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<v Speaker 1>within a couple of years we had added a lot

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<v Speaker 1>more people. And since I was one of the early

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<v Speaker 1>people there, one day my manager turned to me and said,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, we have four new designers joining next week

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<v Speaker 1>and I don't have time to meet with them. Why

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<v Speaker 1>don't you be their manager? And at this point, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>I had no training at this about how to lead,

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<v Speaker 1>how to manage. But yet I found myself in this

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<v Speaker 1>situation needing to ramp up new people and help our

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<v Speaker 1>team grow. And this is a very common story in

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<v Speaker 1>Silicon Valley or in any context where a small team

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<v Speaker 1>starts to take on bigger and bigger goals. Uh. And

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<v Speaker 1>that is how I found myself in that role. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>without that preparation, I made every single mistake in the

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<v Speaker 1>book about learning how it is to manage and lead people.

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<v Speaker 1>And ultimately, some years later, I decided to write all

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<v Speaker 1>that down and UM, hopefully I can seem like I'm

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<v Speaker 1>having a coffee chat with somebody else finding themselves in

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<v Speaker 1>that situation. And so I mean, if you could go

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<v Speaker 1>back in time and talk to younger Julie Newly in

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<v Speaker 1>that situation, what would you say? What would be the

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<v Speaker 1>main bullet point there. The most important thing I would

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<v Speaker 1>tell somebody in that situation here is what the job

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<v Speaker 1>of a manager is. Because here's the thing. We grow up,

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<v Speaker 1>we watch movies. We have a sense of like, what

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<v Speaker 1>does the boss do right? And we think about the

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<v Speaker 1>boss as the person who makes decisions, the person who

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<v Speaker 1>hires and fires people, the person who gets to tell

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<v Speaker 1>everyone else you know, what's right and how things go.

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<v Speaker 1>And the reality is, in my experience, like, that's not

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<v Speaker 1>really what great managers do. So the first thing I

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<v Speaker 1>want from to understand is what exactly is the job

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<v Speaker 1>of management? And very simply I define it as the

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<v Speaker 1>manager's job is to help a group of people be

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<v Speaker 1>able to achieve more together. So how do they do

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<v Speaker 1>that right? How do they actually get a group of

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<v Speaker 1>talented people to achieve more together? There are three main

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<v Speaker 1>levers that a manager has. The first is people. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>you need to bring in talented people who have the

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<v Speaker 1>skills to be able to do what the group wants

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<v Speaker 1>to do together. The second is process. So do you

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<v Speaker 1>have all of these great people, okay, how should they

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<v Speaker 1>work together? You know? How do they come up with

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<v Speaker 1>new ideas? How do they resolve disagreement, who should do what?

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<v Speaker 1>You know? How does their work get divided? And finally purpose,

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<v Speaker 1>which is defining what does success look like for this

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<v Speaker 1>group of people? How do we know what a good

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<v Speaker 1>job is? How do we know what a great job is?

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<v Speaker 1>How do we know what a mediocre job is? All

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<v Speaker 1>that has to be shared in terms of all of

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<v Speaker 1>the members on the team in order for this to

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<v Speaker 1>team to go on and do great things. I'm wondering

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<v Speaker 1>about people who may not be managers yet and may

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<v Speaker 1>not even aspire to be managers. And how you know

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<v Speaker 1>we talked about this idea of managing up and the

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<v Speaker 1>idea of working with your bosses in a way that

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<v Speaker 1>is productive. What if I do you have for people

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<v Speaker 1>in those situations? The most important advice I have for

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<v Speaker 1>somebody when they think about managing up is make sure

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<v Speaker 1>you know these two things. Make sure that your manager

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<v Speaker 1>knows what you aspire for, what your goals goals are

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<v Speaker 1>in your career. Do you want to get a promotion?

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<v Speaker 1>Do you want to manage one? Did? Do you want

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<v Speaker 1>to take on big projects? Or or you know, are

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<v Speaker 1>you very happy doing what you're doing? You know, what

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<v Speaker 1>kind of projects are you excited to take on? What

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<v Speaker 1>kind of challenges are meaningful and what kind of things

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<v Speaker 1>do you hate doing? Make sure your manager understands that

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<v Speaker 1>a right, So ask yourselves, does my manager understand what

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<v Speaker 1>my aspirations are, what my strengths are, what my weaknesses are?

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<v Speaker 1>And if not, go ahead and tell them right, tell

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<v Speaker 1>them in a one on what make sure they know.

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<v Speaker 1>And the second question is do you want to understand

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<v Speaker 1>what success for my manager looks like in regards to

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<v Speaker 1>what I can do to help them? Because if you

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<v Speaker 1>don't feel like you know what your manager is is

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<v Speaker 1>aspiring for in regards to the team that you're a

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<v Speaker 1>part of, or what success for you looks like, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>you're gonna be basically talking past each other. So both

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<v Speaker 1>of these things need to be true. And if they're

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<v Speaker 1>not clear, that's what time with the manager in one

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<v Speaker 1>on one setting is for. Right. Make sure they understand

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<v Speaker 1>your goal. Make sure you understand their goals. And Julie,

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<v Speaker 1>what would you say, not necessarily to a new manager

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<v Speaker 1>entering a situation, but a manager that maybe has already

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<v Speaker 1>had some struggles with their team with the reports, who

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<v Speaker 1>has you know, maybe lost faith? How do you rebuild

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<v Speaker 1>that sort of trust there. It's super critical that managers

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<v Speaker 1>have the trust with their team. And you know, everyone

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<v Speaker 1>makes mistakes. I've certainly made many as a manager, and

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<v Speaker 1>in those cases, what helped me the most was being

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<v Speaker 1>able to admit my own vulnerability and uh and and

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<v Speaker 1>come clean with people. Right. The thing is a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of times managers have immense pressure on them. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>they might think I'm the manager and the boss, I'm

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<v Speaker 1>the person who should have all the answers. But that's

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<v Speaker 1>just too high of an expectation to have on anyone.

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<v Speaker 1>There's no single person and a company who should feel

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<v Speaker 1>like they have the answers to every single problem. That's

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<v Speaker 1>why we have a team. That's why people come together

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<v Speaker 1>to work on big problems. And so in the cases

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<v Speaker 1>in which you know, as a manager you made the

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<v Speaker 1>wrong call, something happened, just to own it. Just admit

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<v Speaker 1>that there was a mistake, you know that you made,

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<v Speaker 1>you thought certain things, it didn't happen the way they expected,

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<v Speaker 1>and and complete and ask for help. Ask the team, Hey,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, this is one of the things that we

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<v Speaker 1>need to do together as a team. I don't have

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<v Speaker 1>all the answers. I would like ideas from all of you,

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<v Speaker 1>what do you think we should do? The best thing

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<v Speaker 1>I've found for myself as a manager, the thing that

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<v Speaker 1>gave me both a lot more impact but also a

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<v Speaker 1>lot more power, is to be able to leverage the

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<v Speaker 1>expertise and the wonderful talent among the people on my team.

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<v Speaker 1>Julie Jow we got to leave it. Their co founder

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<v Speaker 1>at the Advisory Firm in Spirit. It's an organization that

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<v Speaker 1>partners with tech companies to help scale and build products.

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<v Speaker 1>Julie Wi also spent years at Facebook, where she helped

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<v Speaker 1>build the app into one that's used by more than

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<v Speaker 1>a billion people. She's the author of the new book

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<v Speaker 1>The Making of a Manager, What to Do When Everyone

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<v Speaker 1>Looks to You. Joining us this afternoon from the Bay

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<v Speaker 1>Area in California. Julie, thanks so much for taking the time.