What’s the difference between being a manager and being a business owner? Let me use a sports analogy. I recently read the following about new NFL coaches (as it’s that time of year where there’s job turnover).
“If there’s one thing I’ve heard from new head coaches, it’s dealing with all the things he’s not anticipating, and still devoting the proper time to the things he was.”
In other words, there’s a lot more responsibility. You don’t have just your silo of duties, you have everybody’s silos. It’s like the owner who told me he came to realize while he didn’t have to know how to do everything in the business, but he had to know what needed to be done, who needed to do it, when it was to be completed, and what it looked like when done (correctly).
And then there’s the unanticipated. I learned many years ago, the hard way, you can’t budget the whole day because something will sneak in the side door and disrupt your schedule. It could be a client situation, a great new prospective client, a negotiation item, etc. But something will disrupt your day and the tighter your schedule the increased odds this will happen.
Similar is scheduling meetings too close together. Especially in today’s world of smartphones, giving yourself enough time between meetings is smart. Because the tighter our schedule the more likely Murphy’s Law appears by having the first person we’re meeting show up late.
Coaches strive to become a head coach; many executives strive to be owners. It’s often more work but with higher rewards, financially and emotionally.
“Success is relative: It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things.” T.S. Elliott
