Up from the Crowd

Lessons to Help Managers Become Effective Leaders

William Mince

• Publisher: PageTurner Press and Media
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781649085474
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

Bill Mince has always pushed himself out of his comfort zone. Once a college dropout who struggled in a management position, he decided to return to school at night to earn two degrees. This interplay between academic growth and the need to make real-time decisions every day required him to make course corrections that benefited both his understanding of management and how to achieve results in the workplace.

Mince, who relies on his experience turning around companies and integrating new managers into the company culture, shares a collection of essays designed to help managers avoid their mistakes, handle challenging business situations, and use his learned lessons to grow as leaders. In his essays that share his learning experiences, proven processes, and specific tools for success, Mince teaches managers how to:

• Understand what drives and motivates team members
• Develop more harmonious and successful cross-functional teams
• Create the right environment for employees to learn and grow
• Recruit candidates most suited to fulfill a company's mission
• Prepare an organization to meet the challenges of change

Up from the Crowd shares valuable wisdom from a seasoned business executive that will help any manager improve results, better interact with a team, establish a winning culture, and ultimately stand out in a crowd of leaders.

Copyright © 2020 by William L. Mince

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All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or manner, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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Created in the United States of America

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020922796

ISBN: Softcover 978-1-64908-548-1

Hardback 978-1-64908-549-8

eBook 978-1-64908-547-4

Republished by: PageTurner Press and Media LLC

Publication Date: 12/15/2020

___________________________________________________

To order copies of this book, contact:

PageTurner Press and Media

Phone: [phone]

[email protected]

www.pageturner.us

Contents

Acknowledgments v

Introduction vii

Lesson One: The Bell Curve 1

Lesson Two: Collaborative Thinking, Consensus Decision Making 9

Lesson Three: Life and Work Balance 15

Lesson Four: Secret Weapon 19

Lesson Five: Humanize the Organization 22

Lesson Six: Learning to Learn 27

Lesson Seven: Who Owns It? 33

Lesson Eight: GOIN4 AU 39

Lesson Nine: Focus on Team Success 43

Lesson Ten: The Value of Process and Reporting 47

Lesson Eleven: Show Me the Data 52

Lesson Twelve: Strawberry Jam 57

Lesson Thirteen: New Kid on the Block 62

Lesson Fourteen: Hire Tough, Manage Easy 65

Lesson Fifteen: Performance Management 72

Lesson Sixteen: Managing Change 77

Lesson Seventeen: Identifying Future Leaders 84

Conclusion 89

Endnotes 90

Acknowledgments

I have been a manager of teams ranging in size from three to six hundred for practically my entire career. Most of this time, I reported to the president/CEO or a member of the executive staff. Not only did this give me insight into the planning and decision-making processes at the highest levels; these key decision makers were also there to applaud my few early achievements—and patiently coach me through my many blunders. This collection of essays is dedicated to two groups of individuals.

First, to the many bosses, peers, and subordinates who have endured, tolerated, guided, coached, and encouraged me, I thank you. One of my early mentors inspired me to restart, after each painful lesson, by sharing the following excerpt from Teddy Roosevelt’s 1915 speech at the Sorbonne.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.1

Second, for those of you who have been helped by my coaching in my more enlightened years, I thank you for your trust. In some cases I was learning new concepts or tools only days before trying them out on you. Your patience and sense of humor were very important to me, and I hope the experience was helpful to you.

Finally, I have met a number of people in my career and have tried to learn from them all. Following is a list of those who have been most helpful to me in growing from a manager to a leader:

Cathy Adkins, Bill Akin, Joe Amato, Pat Bashaw, Jill Bartholic, Francine Belkind, Ajay Bhave, Eric Bindleglass, Mike Brennan, Ed Brekke, Don Buerkley, John Buhler, Dan Carbon, Chloe Chan, Chris Chung, Jeffrey Cohen, Jim Dennis, Rossella Derickson, Nelda Dilbeck, Frank Drdek, Doris Engibous, David Ewing, Clive Goodwin, Robin Graham, Bob Gunst, Linda Hartwig, Jim Hawkins, Krista Henley, John Howe, John Huie, Srikanth Jadcherla, Bob Johnson, Tim Johnson, Chris Jones, Carol Jorgenson, Jack Jorgenson, Donna Kelly, Roger Kotter, Ed Kowalski, Fred Krantz, Dan Kyte, Dan Lagonterie, Patrick Nugent, Ray Larkin, Jack Lloyd, Mark Michael, Janette Mince, Jim Mince, Sean Moran, Bill New, Ken Olson, Mike Osterling, Cheryl Palange, Jim Parrish, Jon Peters, Steve Plymale, Glen Reule, Sheila Rockwood, Virginia Sanshey, John Sartori, Dave Schlotterbeck, Keith Serzen, Art Songey, Michael Stern, Jim Stocker, David Traversi, Ken Traverso, Bob Ulius, Al Vanderpool, Carlos Villareal, Volker von Detten, Ted Weiler, Rick Weisbart, Joice White, Don Williams, Jim West, Joe West, Emma Westmoreland

Thank you all.

Introduction

Over my career, I have been fortunate to work for a wide variety of firms, including family-owned businesses, start-ups, and Fortune 100 as well as struggling, small public companies. I have been promoted, downsized, moved laterally, and relocated. On four occasions the company for which I worked was acquired. In my later career I focused on acquisitions and turnaround situations.

Many times during this journey I was required to learn new skills, modify my beliefs, practice patience, or develop tolerance for situations I could not control. My objective in this book is to present lessons that were helpful to me. I wrote this collection to share some of the key concepts I have learned in hopes new managers will avoid some of my mistakes and accelerate their growth into ever greater leadership positions. I have also included additional reading material that explores the issues in more detail.

Family financial circumstances required me to pay for my own college education. I had not applied myself very well in high school, so no scholarships were available to me. My low GPA would not get me access to a highly respected university, so I started my education at the local community college. I worked evenings and weekends to support myself. This made it very difficult to stay focused on my studies. When I learned of an employment opportunity for a manufacturing company that was relocating to my area, I decided to work full-time and postpone my education.

Upon entering the workforce, I made the unfortunate discovery, or rather held the arrogant misperception, that I was much smarter and more dedicated than any of my peers. I had come from a poor family and was very focused on succeeding as quickly as possible. I am super competitive by nature and was convinced that no one was smart enough or fast enough or even cared to try to keep up with me.

My first position was as a warehouseman. A coworker, an older woman, also worked in the shipping department. She worked harder than many of the team who were half her age and was always in a pleasant mood. She expected all of us to do our work accurately so she would not have to fix our mistakes. She could be very assertive but never...

Table of contents

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