Conclusion: Coping When You’re Poorly Managed; and Why Management Jobs Are Still Worth the Bother

Abstract

The modern world desperately needs competent managers. As we have argued from Chap. 1, the job of management has become more difficult, and for a number of reasons. This book is our solution. To summarize: Management by Permission (MBP) comprises four ingredients: (1) get control; (2) clarify expectations; (3) run interference; and (4) develop the people. Get these four ingredients right and you will manage effectively.

Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth’s surface relative to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid

Bertrand Russell

We cannot be taught wisdom, we have to discover it for ourselves by a journey which no-one can undertake for us, an effort which no-one can spare us

Marcel Proust

Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken

Oscar Wilde

My boss is like the tattoo of St. George on the horse. He sits there day after day, but he never goes anywhere

Anon