Lead Rather Than Manage by Bill Byrd At one point, we saw a real need to upgrade our efficiency in purchasing supplies for our factory. We were buying too much of some supplies, which then sat in a storeroom for weeks. Other things we needed — chocolate-making ingredients or shipping materials — we ran out of before the next deliveries came, causing us to lose time until we had restocked.

An experienced purchasing agent named Roberta seemed to be just what the doctor ordered. She joined our team with great ideas for new procedures and computerized monitoring of our supplies, which would help us to set up what's now called "just in time" inventory control. She really had a knack for it, even building in extra time for deliveries from northern parts of the country in winter.

Under her supervision, stocking went even better than we had hoped. We couldn't have been more pleased. Then one day, as I walked by Roberta's office, I saw a vendor sitting outside, waiting to see her. "Do you have an appointment?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered. "For what time?" I said. "Three o'clock."

I looked at my watch and saw that it was 3:30.

I let it pass at the time but later mentioned the incident to Roberta, reminding her that we had a corporate value of respecting everyone, including vendors. Our policy stated that we keep no one waiting for an appointment.

Roberta explained that she had been on the phone with another vendor at the time and was running a little late that day. So I dropped the matter and forgot about it.

A few days later, however, I again saw a vendor sitting outside her office who — when I asked about it — said he'd been waiting more than half an hour.

It disturbed me to see this taking place again, so I told Roberta not to let it happen anymore. She said she'd be more careful in scheduling appointments.

Unfortunately, as a little more time went by, the problem persisted. We heard later that Roberta told another employee that having people waiting for her made her feel important. And no matter how much the human resources people and I talked with her, she just couldn't get this area of her job under control.

In the end, my senior staff and I decided that we had to let her go. Though she was performing some aspects of her job well, if we couldn't trust her to uphold this company value, we'd have trouble trusting her in general and delegating other responsibilities to her.

Someone with what I call a "managerial mind-set" — focusing only on accomplishing the immediate job at hand-might have looked solely at how Roberta was doing with the nuts and bolts of her job, ignoring other issues. A leader, however, has to consider the big picture.

A managerial mind-set person might have let things go for a while, hoping that Roberta would come around eventually and make a confrontation unnecessary. A true leader tackles problems promptly.

It is deceptively easy. Any leader with more than one person to supervise can get bogged down in a million daily details of the work. Any leader with even a bit of insecurity or perfectionism can refuse to delegate, adding to his or her own burden and frustrating the team. Any burdened leader can neglect to read and research to stay ahead of the pack, sooner or later losing sight of where the organization ought to be going.

A successful leader will recognize these dangers and learn to lead rather than get trapped in a managerial mind-set, to focus more on doing the right things than on just doing things right, "by the book."

These and the traits I mentioned in the opening story are some of the qualities that distinguish true leaders from those who merely manage. And success stems from becoming a true leader. In my experience, it's when we're pursuing leadership at this level that God's Spirit also fills us with joy in the task, because we're seeking to make the most of every opportunity he provides.

Altogether, I've observed seven key characteristics of such people.

True Leaders versus Mere Managers

1. Leaders Go Home for Dinner

Everyone connected in any way to an organization (or any part of it) has ideas about how things ought to be done and how the leader should do his or her job. It is literally impossible to please all of them, and it's a bad idea even to try. Yet that's exactly what many leaders do.

It's a strong temptation, and I've struggled with it constantly myself. But one resolution has helped me keep a healthy perspective over the years. Early on, as I considered how to conduct my life and my business in ways that would please God, I came to the conclusion that my wife and kids had to remain my first priority. I'd heard already of too many people who had tried to build their companies by working sixteen to eighteen hours a day, allowing their families to erode in the process.

I didn't want that to happen to my family. So I decided that I was going to be home for dinner every night with my beautiful wife and three children.

Now, that might not sound like a big deal, but when you're the boss — and even when you encourage all your staff to make family a priority — the workaholics on your staff are going to expect you to be the last one out the door every day. (I guess it's kind of like expecting the captain to be the last person to leave a sinking ship!) As I left the office each evening, I could feel the quizzical looks being exchanged behind my back. And as the company grew, the pressure to work into the night grew as well.

If I'd stayed later, I could have considered more deals. If I'd put in more hours, I could have given personal attention to more details of the business. But I wouldn't trade any of those "opportunities" for the sense of rightness I felt when I heard my wife say to our kids, with pride in her voice, "Your daddy comes home every night for dinner."

I'm convinced, too, that looking after my family that way and knowing that all was well on the home front helped me to be more effective in leading my company than if I'd spent extra hours in the office.

2. Leaders Do More Than Oversee: They Inspire

A wise man once wrote, "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Prov. 29:18 KJV). Truer words were never penned. And it falls to a true leader to see to it that his or her people have an inspiring vision to pursue.

It's tempting to think that this need for a vision, or a sense of mission, applies only to those doing humanitarian or religious work, or maybe to military troops who prepare to defend freedom against evil forces in the world. But the fact is that no matter what kind of work our enterprises do, our people need a vision.

An automaker might have a vision for building safe, reliable, stylish cars.

An insurance company's mission might be to provide security, service, and peace of mind to policyholders. A janitorial services firm might have a vision for providing a clean, safe, pleasant working environment for its clients.

A grocery store's mission might be to offer a wide variety of fresh, nutritious foods at fair prices to its customers, in a convenient location.

And a maker of fine chocolates could have a vision for providing its customers fresh, high-quality candies that turn an ordinary day into a special occasion.

It's only natural, though, that people in any line of work get caught up in the day-to-day routine: meetings, deadlines, red tape, frustrations, the nine-to-five grind. And when they do, they easily lose sight of whatever sense of mission they might have had.

People with managerial mind-sets, their own noses firmly pressed to the grindstone, have no more vision than those they supervise. Leaders recognize how crucial vision is and make the time and effort to keep casting a vision for those who follow — a vision that inspires, that gives meaning to the work, that instills pride, and that motivates people to keep giving their best effort to the cause.

3. Leaders Give Their People the Power to Succeed

As I mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, any leader who is the least bit insecure will find it difficult, if not impossible, to delegate work to subordinates. The same is true of a perfectionistic leader who thinks there's only one right way to do any job: exactly the way he would do it.

Such a leader gives out assignments, but then he wants to micromanage the work. Either he's constantly looking over the shoulders of his staff, driving them crazy, or he's giving them the responsibility but not the authority to get things done, forcing them to come back to him for approval at every stage and for every decision.

And all the while this "leader" is hovering over his staffers, he is neglecting his own work, the tasks waiting on his desk that ought to be his top priorities.

A true leader, on the other hand, hires good, competent people, makes sure they have the necessary training,
and then gives them both the responsibility for a job and the authority to make things happen. One of his rewards is then the joy of watching them grow and succeed.

My wife, Judie, is an entrepreneur in her own right, running her own successful cooking school. Like many, she has struggled with delegation, knowing that the school's reputation is on the line in every program, every class. A fairly recent experience, however, helped her to make great progress in this area.

She had an idea for a new program that would show parents the pleasures and the how-to's of cooking with their kids. The idea had great potential. It seemed that almost every parent to whom she mentioned it responded with an enthusiastic "When can we sign up?" The only problem was that she was already so busy running her existing programs, she simply had no time to plan and develop this new class.

What to do? To her credit, she realized the idea would never get off the ground if she tried to do it herself; she needed to let someone else make it happen. So she started looking for the right people, and before too long, she found them. One had run a city-wide festival thousands had attended; she obviously knew how to set plans and guide them to fruition. The other had been Judie's personal assistant, who had shown a similar knack for finding ways to get even the toughest jobs done.

Judie described her vision for the program to the two women, gave them her notes and a few words of advice, and said, "Call me if you need me." Then off they went to implement the vision.

Soon the new class was ready to go, the publicity work was done, and parents were signing up by the score. The program didn't turn out exactly the way Judie would have done it — but she'll tell you it's even better than what she had envisioned! And today she's a joyful leader, the two women have a well-deserved sense of accomplishment, and lots of parents are having fun in the kitchen with their kids.

4. Leaders Spread Out the Kudos

To the typical, hard-driving leader, cheerleading may seem to merit a low priority, or even to be a total waste of time. "They're getting a paycheck! What other motivation do they need?" I've actually heard people say that. And I've seen the grim faces and uninspired efforts of their employees.

The true leader, however, knows that people come to work with their minds and hearts full of concerns and burdens. And while cheerleading won't solve problems either at home or on the job, it will certainly lighten the load, build a sense of loyalty and camaraderie, and make the work go more smoothly.

Thus, while it may not seem urgent or productive, taking the time and effort to encourage staff is one of the most valuable things a leader can do. It starts with putting on a positive face and attitude yourself, conveying a sense of joy and "glad to be here" to everyone you meet. There is plenty of pain and heartache in the world, and work is work, but why not be a beacon of positive energy and hope for those whose paths you cross?

Encouraging staff also means writing notes of thanks and appreciation. It means giving kudos publicly at every opportunity-for extra effort, for good ideas, for finding ways to cut costs or to provide better service to customers, and so on. It means being generous with handshakes and pats on the back (both verbal and physical). It means making the workplace fun by holding contests, sharing laughs in the break room, and having potluck lunches and company picnics. And it means getting to know your staff well enough that you learn what lifts the spirits of each.

I remember bringing donuts to a meeting of my senior team one time, and one of the guys really loved the chocolate cake variety. After that, I always tried to remember to have those for him whenever I brought pastries.

One of our top managers loved to eat popcorn in the afternoon. (Working around sweets all day, you can really start craving salt.) This was back in the days before microwave ovens became common. To express appreciation to her, as well as to the rest of the staff, we bought a microwave oven for the lunchroom, and she was thrilled.

At one of the first fancy food shows we attended in New York, our top marketing and sales people did a great job. By the end, we were all exhausted. So afterward we treated everyone to dinner at a fancy restaurant and then took them on the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty and Staten Island. For folks who had never visited the Big Apple before (some had never been outside Texas!), it was a day to remember.

5. Leaders Are Proactive about Problems

There's a natural human tendency to try to avoid unpleasant discussions and confrontation. Just dealing with things that aren't right in the workplace is a hassle. So even good leaders will sometimes let things slide for a while in the hope that problems will resolve themselves without intervention.

The fact is, however, that problems don't magically disappear. And in most cases, the longer a situation goes unresolved, the more it costs the organization in terms of money and/or morale.

In a manufacturing business such as making fine chocolates, we operate on thin margins. It's vital that we control costs tightly and save expense wherever we can without compromising the quality of our product. Well, one day it came to my attention that folks weren't following proper procedure in our shipping department, adding to our costs unnecessarily.

Containers get treated pretty roughly in the shipping process, so we packed our products carefully in protective cardboard boxes. Those boxes aren't terribly expensive, but when you use a lot of them, as we did, the cost adds up. So for smaller orders, we had halfsize containers that cost about half the price of full-size containers.

Our shipping department, however, wasn't using those smaller boxes. Even orders that didn't fill half a full-size box were going out in the bigger cartons, stuffed with Styrofoam peanuts. Why? When it came to loading the trucks and keeping track of how many boxes were in a given shipment, the crew simply found it easier to work with boxes that were all the same size.

Now, again, each of those boxes was relatively inexpensive. Some managers would have ignored the situation, figuring there were bigger fish to fry. But when you're using thousands of them a year, the extra amount grows into a significant number. And when the whole firm is pinching pennies to squeeze out the best profit margin possible, a more proactive approach is necessary.

As soon as I was sure I had my facts straight, I talked with the manager of the shipping department. She agreed that her crew had fallen into a habit of convenience, and she took responsibility for straightening out the situation. In no time at all, they were back on track.

Tackling problems head-on and right away isn't fun. True leaders accept the fact that it comes with the territory.

6. Leaders Manage More Than Minutiae

I referred at the start of this chapter to how easy it is to get bogged down in the daily details of running an organization. And the bigger the enterprise gets, the more details there will be, all screaming for attention. But people who let those details dictate their schedules and fill their working hours aren't leaders at all; they're managers of minutiae.

True leaders recognize the need to carve out time regularly for thinking, reading, and planning. For pondering the "big picture." For researching trends that will affect their organizations and considering what steps they can take, beginning now, to benefit from them-as opposed to ignorantly doing nothing and perhaps being hurt by those trends.

As you saw in the last chapter, this is another lesson I learned the hard way. I had not kept up with current business practice in terms of how businesses get shelf space for their products in retail stores, so I made a decision that cost us a partnership and potentially some big profits. Had I been reading and talking with others
outside our company (and even within it), I likely would have had a much different perspective.

Since that time, I've made it a practice to block out several hours every week to research such issues as consumer trends, the latest in marketing practices, and new manufacturing methods. These things and their implications for our firm then become topics of discussion with my senior team. Leaders keep details from derailing them from this important priority.

7. Leaders Learn

Implicit in this emphasis is the need to listen. It's easy to jump to conclusions based on scant evidence, and it's easy to think we know it all. But if we want to understand what's going on inside our own organizations, we have to ask lots of questions of lots of people and then listen carefully to the answers. If anything's not clear, we need to ask follow-up questions and/or restate what we think we heard and ask, "Have I understood you correctly?"

Really listening — as opposed to letting your mind wander, half-listening while you consider what you're going to say next, or cutting off the speaker-requires a certain degree of humility. It implies that the other person knows something you don't but need to, that the other person has something worth your while to hear.

So-called leaders aren't big on humility. True leaders are the first to admit that they don't know everything and that they need help. I've struggled with this and continue to do so. But when I really listen, I experience the simple joy of learning something I didn't know before, and it's usually something that will indeed help me to lead my team better.

Those with the managerial mind-set are frustrated. They scratch and claw just to get through each day. They don't look forward to coming to work in the morning, and they can't wait to go home at the end of the day.

The people under them feel and act exactly the same. Successful leaders, on the other hand, are aware of the challenges, but they keep the mission in view, and it gives them reason to forge ahead. They know whose approval matters most, and they share the load with good people. They're positive, proactive, joyful, and forward thinking.

The people under them feel and act exactly the same.

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Excerpted by permission from Sweet Success by Bill Byrd with Larry K. Weeden (Fleming H. Revell Co., 2004).

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Bill Byrd is a business entrepreneur best known for building the Sweet Shop Fudge Love Chocolate Factory in Fort Worth, Texas, from 1987 to 1992. He and his wife, Judie, now run the Culinary School in Fort Worth.