Struggles That Unite New Managers and How To Overcome Them
I wish I knew these tips when I led my first team
I first became a manager in 2011. I was put in charge of a 50-person logistics team and given the keys to a retail kingdom that generated $20 million in revenue per year. (Translation: Target hired me as an Assistant Store Manager.)
I had graduated from business school with my MBA, which meant that I was supposed to know what I was doing. But in reality, I was pretty lost.
Target expected me to lead a motley crew of 16-year-olds working their first job and 65-year-olds working their last job before retirement. Neither group had any reason to respect me, and I had zero street cred in retail.
Within hours of setting foot in the store, I realized I was in over my head.
The mid-level managers in the store questioned why the company would entrust the second-in-command role to a 23-year-old kid instead of letting them move into the role. (And to be honest, I wondered the same thing.)
My MBA courses had prepared me to analyze balance sheets, opine on case studies, and give entrepreneurial pitches that could potentially woo a venture capitalist, but it had not prepared me for the eventuality of leading a team of blood-and-flesh humans making $8…
