The best management advice I ever received
A paradigm shift on how to treat your employees
I’ve had the honor of working under extremely talented and experienced managers, learning tremendously from each of them. While the vast majority of my managerial style has been honed through experience and by collecting constructive feedback, one piece of advice has stuck with me for years.
Long ago, I served in the Israeli military and went on to officer training. Bahad 1 (Training base #1) is a melting pot in the military, training cadets together from all the armed forces over a 3-month program. After completing the program, we’d go on to additional specialized training (several more months), receive our Lieutenant rank, and command soldiers who were performing their mandatory service, conscript soldiers. In Israel, today, the legally obliging mandatory service is nearly 2 years for women and 2.5 years for men.
Halfway through the program, a brigadier general gave us a lecture on leadership. At the time, his advice blew my mind:
Every single day, imagine that your employees are volunteering to work for you. Treat them accordingly.
At face value, this seemed ridiculous, especially in a military setting. These soldiers weren’t volunteering to perform their duty — they could be…
