Over time I have observed many managers and executives. They each have their own management style and effectiveness. I never went beyond superficial analysis on their management style. Yet, I noted an interesting trend among their motivation as a manager. I defined motivation as to whom the manager feels she is working for. I found three distinct types:
a) Working for her superiors. This is the manager that does everything she can to achieve her superior's objectives. It is all about making the boss job easier. Nothing has a higher priority than a request from the boss. I have seen this type of manager in larger corporations, particularly in middle management.
b) Working for her customers. This is the manager that is always thinking about her customers. For this manager the customers are always the first priority. You will find this type of managers in startups, small consultancies and a few big companies. One company well known for this attitude is Intuit.
c) Working for her employees. I have not seen this type of leader very often in corporate America. You will find this type of manager in the military. Good officers are very concerned about their people and their well being. They truly believe they are serving their people, not the other way around. They even have a expression for it: "The burden of command." This is the type of leadership that leads managers to never ask her reports to do something they wouldn't do, to stay late if her reports have to stay late, to be the first one to arrive in the morning and the last one to leave at night.
I am not arguing that any of the motivations is better than another. I think each has its own place. A business development MBA will be great with type a). Type b) is perfect for Service Managers and Program Managers and type c) is an excellent fit for a Director of Engineering. On the other hand executives need to balance all three.
