The Rules Of Management (Pioneer Panel's Library) by Richard Templar

customers will change. Your colleagues will be different. You, too, will change.
    All these changes happen, and it is the smart manager who not only embraces them but is also prepared for them. Earlier we looked at having a Plan B and a Plan C; well, this is different—this is not catering for a specific crisis but being fluid and flexible enough to stay ahead of the game. What this means is that when change occurs you can take it in your stride and aren’t thrown off course by it.
    I once worked for a particular company that got taken over twice, in the space of a year. Each time the new people came in, they had a whole series of changes to implement. They wanted things done “their way.” This was fine, but after the first time we had barely got our breath back when the second takeover occurred.
    I watched a lot of people fall by the wayside because they couldn’t cope with the stress of having to stay so flexible. I was nearly one of them myself. It was a hard time but I saw then that resisting change was futile. Only by embracing the change could I survive—and not only survive but also milk the situation to my advantage. The more I smiled and had a sort of “bring it on attitude” the more responsibility I was given forthe change itself. Other man-agers played the oak in the storm, but I was the willow. I bent and swayed and survived. They resisted, stood firm, and lost branches.
    You have to face your own future as well. Will you move on? Have you grown bored with the job, the industry, your role in it? What turns you on today may not in 10 years’ time.
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    RESISTING CHANGE WAS FUTILE. ONLY BY EMBRACING THE CHANGE COULD I SURVIVE.
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Chapter 62. Head Up, Not Head Down

    It’s easy to adopt a head-down approach to life. It’s harder to remain cheerful; head up. Is your glass half empty or half full? If it seems to be half empty, perhaps you need a holiday, a retraining schedule, a few new challenges, a new job, a new department, a new team—or simply a new approach. Life does tend to get fired at us at point-blank range and there is barely time to duck. The manager’s lot is not always a happy or easy one and you get tired, despondent, bored, listless, and just about ready to quit. We all do from time to time. Being a manager can feel like a thankless task. You get stuff shoveled at you from all directions. I’m never sure whether it’s better to be at the top shoveling stuff downward or at the bottom shoveling stuff upward but I sure as hell know it’s not great caught in the middle fending it off from above and below.
    Head up is both an affirmation (repeat it to yourself constantly when encountering problems, but silently, only to yourself, or they will devour you) and a physical instruction—you can physically and emotionally (and probably mentally) practice head up.
    While looking in a mirror, keep your head up and say, “I feel really miserable.” You will laugh. Try the opposite. Head down, and say, “I feel really happy.” Again you will find it impossible and silly. You will laugh. But you have to be looking in a mirror. Perhaps you always look like that. Either way it is funny. You are funny.
    When entering a room, it is head up. When chairing a meeting, it is head up. When doing a presentation, it is head up. When greeting people, it is head up. When talking to staff, it is head up. When talking to customers, it is head up. At the end of a long and busy day, when you go to bed, you can do head down—and go to sleep knowing you’ve been big and bright and bold all day. Well done you.
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    PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY (AND PROBABLY MENTALLY) PRACTICE HEAD UP.
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Chapter 63. See the Forest and the Trees

    You’ve got to see the big picture. It’s no good concentrating solely on what you do or what your department does. You can’t even keep your gaze limited to what your organization does, or even what your industry does. You’ve got to see the wider view all the time. The