In my efforts to puzzle out a way to “do management” that works with my temperament, I’ve come up with a metaphor that I’d like to share. I’m (mildly, appropriately) uncomfortable with the idea of being “at the top” or “above” other people. That’s fine. I just need a way to think about it that works for me.

See, you can invert all the org charts that you want, but people will keep flipping them back “right side up” in their mind, the same way they can’t help flipping an inverted map to their accustomed orientation.

I’m not here to work against human nature. That’s too tall an order. People will keep referring to managers being “above” their reports, and adjusting the language (visual or otherwise) is a bit too Orwellian for me, even if it’s in the service of something generous and human.

So, let me reframe how I see management: what I really am is a man in a hot air balloon.

What’s special about a man in a hot air balloon? Nothing, really, except where he’s standing. His vantage point. If you were standing next to him, you might not act exactly as he does, but you’d have all the same advantages and disadvantages.

What disadvantages does he have? Many. For one, he can’t really affect anything on the ground except by convincing others to act. He can’t see the details of work as clearly as someone working on the ground. And he’s blown by winds he cannot control.

Framed this way, my only tool is communication, my only task to convey context. With this metaphor, I’m comfortable saying there are 28 people “below me”.

So, who are we going to put up there in the balloon? Well, the argument could be made that experience will help. And I’m on board with that. Good communication skills are essential, and I’m a little terrified at that. Sure, I’ve spent the last ten years communicating for a living, but this job daily tests the limits of my ability to communicate clearly. (And demands that I repeat myself a lot which I hate.)

So. Communication skills. And a modicum of experience. What else do we need in a leader?

I guess the only thing I’m sure about as far as who we choose for leadership… who we trick into the basket before cutting the sandbags… is that it needn’t be a man.