Business Sphere

     In my many years of experience in the business world and non-profit organizations, I have interacted with a lot of managers and business leaders.

     There are managers who became such by accident, and there are also managers who rose to their positions not because of their effectiveness and competence, but due to their good public relations and playing politics within their organizations.

     There are also managers who rose from the ranks by virtue of their skills in manipulation, and of leading people by intimidation.

     And there are managers who are skilled in the art of management – of making plans and decisions, of organizing and coordinating the assets of their companies, of leading and motivating their staff to achieve business objectives, and of implementing controls to ensure that plans are followed and then doing corrective measures in case of problems.

     Finally, there are also managers who are escape artists, especially when things go wrong. They have perfected only one trick through sheer repetition: escaping responsibility.

     A management professor and writer, Rene T. Domingo has classified into two ways by which managers perform this well-rehearsed stunt:

     1. the disappearing act – an act done when things go wrong because of you and there is still time to vanish and get somebody else blamed.

     2. the pointing finger trick – what you do when there is no time to disappear because the curtain has been raised, and you have to blame (point a finger at) somebody, anybody, for your mistakes.

     These escape artist managers are true masters not of management but of saving their own skin; and their tribe is increasing by the day. So next time you hire a manager, look into his eyes and not at his lips; he may be an escape artist who could ruin your company and prejudice your business and people.

     But check again. You may already be running a circus, with your manager or you doing the disappearing act or the pointing finger trick