Adam Rudd

How to step up to management

Not 2 years ago, I was actually, quite frightened of the big bosses paying the salary and making the decisions. I had trouble speaking with them, and happened to lose my ability to speak coherently when in hearing range. And yet, I had it in my head that I wanted to be one of them AND I was moving up in the ranks. Go figure, right?

Sort of. Lemme ‘splain.

As a junior/midlevel employee, I reported to my team lead. He in tern reported to the art lead, who spoken with the directors who spoke with the CEO. SO, I figured, if I impress the team lead, it’s bound to trickle up, as water totally always does.
The interesting part about this is that it started me thinking objectively about tasks as management would do. Because I was conscious of the possibility of the trickle going to management, I began assuming the next position up, as though to prepare for that day when I’m given a lovely new desk with that lead role. The trickle didn’t start anything, but my assuming it would, did.

The next step, was to use this fostered baby-manager ego in a new position. This only started working in a new place with no resistance. The reason is simple: people don’t like change, because change is scary. Moving to a new place let me walk in with this fostered manager ego, and let me start from there. Instantly, I jumped up a notch. Don’t underestimate this simple step. It’s HUGELY rewarding.

Some months later (and loads of books) I picked up Timothy Ferriss’ fantastic book “the 4-hour work week”. The seed of entrepreneurship took root, and I took time off to pursue some projects I’d had rattling about in my head. This is where my ego jumped in a bath of Guarana. Dealing with international providers took me from “I think I can” to “It will cost you this much”. Like flicking a switch, I had done all of the things the managers at my old company did (albeit on a smaller scale). I’d managed pay, dealt with milestones, said no a few times to bad work, and lead, like a leader should.
Could I have done this without the smaller steps taken earlier? I’m not sure. But I am sure that every move made towards where you want to be, however round-about (hey, life is scary at times – I admit) the method, it’ll help.

I happily declare myself an Entrepreneur now, a great manager, and DJ. It’s all the same ego model; I’ve just tweaked it now I have it :)