November 21; Wise Old Men Help Reduce Risk, Uncertainty and Ambiguity
MANAGEMENT BY THE BOOK:
365 Daily Bible Verse &
One-Minute Management Lessons For The Busy Faithful

21 November

Make plans by seeking advice;

if you wage war, obtain guidance.

Proverbs 20:18

Managing Success

A marketing campaign is much like a military campaign. They both require expert strategic guidance and a clear objective. To capture an adversary’s capital or to generate more capital — a business vision or a battle vision must be crafted by leadership.

Is this work done in a vacuum?

We celebrate the work, the craftsmanship, of the individual contributor. The work is easy to observe. The work of the process of management is more difficult to measure because more people are involved.

Proverbs 20:18 reminds us that leadership should not be alone: Make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance.

The bigger the vision, the more important the recommendations of outside counsel, senior managers and staff, become. If your goal is to do something big, like, say, go to war, where failure is dealing in the currency of death — obtaining guidance will reduce risk. Business leaders like military leaders should create and use their own councils of war.

Making plans by seeking advice is an active outreach done by leaders to competent managers and talented individual contributors. It is true that the leader alone makes the decision but he better not be alone when considering options or getting recommendations.

Managers running any organization and directing any campaign must get the best advice and direction that is possible only through the collective wisdom of trusted advisors. The successful leader might be alone on a pedestal, but he is never alone in her organization.

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